Accursed
by MistressBlaque
Summary: They were never meant to meet and yet it was inevitable from the start. Fate kept them apart, but destiny will bring them back together, to unlock the secrets and face the dangers history kept from the both of them. Rating gone up for mature themes and violence. IchiHime. Tragedy/HighFantasy/AU/OOC
1. Chapter 1

_**Ok, so thanks to a prompt proposed by kokoro-beat on tumblr a few days ago, I came up with this completely new IchiHime fic. I thought of keeping it Tumblr exclusive, but I couldn't keep it from my readers who don't have tumblr. I'm so, so into this new plotline omfg it's not even funny. I hope you guys will like it.**_

****Category/Community: ****Bleach**** \- ****IchiHime

**Genre of FanFiction:** Romance/Drama/Tragedy/HighFantasy

**Rating:** T(for now)

**Cover Art:** ChubyMi

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_**Chapter 1**_

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The fall was endless.

The darkness… An insurmountably vast precipice that stretched as far as her weeping eyes could see.

There was so much pain… everywhere, on every inch of her and with every beat of her trembling heart that was being crushed by the crippling fright that now haunted her.

She would never see her home again.

The clear droplets of her tears floated behind her in the dark and stormy emptiness in between dimensions.

Nothing mattered anymore.

And maybe… maybe things were better this way.

Her amber eyes slowly fell shut as she gave in to the darkness around and within herself, wishing, to some extend, that if she were to finish like this, that she could go to where the one she'd loved the most was.

To share Oblivium with him for eternity.

And never wake up.

* * *

He was having that dream again.

A pair of leathery, black clawed wings, a crown made of obsidian that smashed onto the ground. An immense beast of black smoke and fire, trapped in a cage and impossibly long, golden brown hair and a pair of eerie cold amber eyes.

Words he couldn't understand, spoken from unknown lips.

Hushed whispers and hasty footsteps echoing through flame-lit corridors. Pursuers. Too many of them.

A blade. A bone-chilling scream.

Blood splattered against flaming stone walls.

An unknown woman falling from a cliff into dark, stormy clouds.

_"__Tra'aklin, Tra'aklin… Come to me, Tra'aklin… To forever Oblivium, Tra'ak."_

He gasped awake again, like he always did when he heard those whispered words in his sleep. The soft, airy voice of the woman who spoke them always lingered with him afterwards as he wondered what those last words meant. For as long as he could remember, they had haunted him and no matter how hard he wished for them to mean nothing as time had gone on, he couldn't, because he wanted to believe that perhaps they held the key to unlocking a secret, or solving a riddle he felt he'd been spending his entire life trying to solve unknowingly.

Perhaps it would help him reveal the true purpose of his life, one that didn't see him end up being nothing more than the son of their village's hunter.

Ichigo sullenly blinked at the canopy of leaves above him, wondering how long he'd been dozing off on the bank of the babbling brook when he noticed the pink tinged sky in the spaces in between.

He sat up with a sigh and scratched the back of his vibrant orange hair, making an annoyed face at how tired he felt.

Today had been a good day, though. Most of the traps he'd lain in the woods the day before had yielded results and he looked forward to being able to return to his family with plenty of food for them and for trading.

"Nenya?" he then called, looking around for his silver colored wolfdog. He stood and hit the dust from his brown leather pants and white tunic. He waited a few moments longer and brought his fingers to his lips to whistle on them, smirking when he heard the bushes behind him bristle and she appeared with an excited bark, sauntering up to him happily.

Ichigo grinned at her lovingly, recognizing her animated behavior instantly. "Did you find something good?"

Nenya barked and jumped in place once, wiggled her tail wildly and took a few steps away from him in the direction of the cottage he currently occupied behind the bushes and looked back expectantly. "Or maybe you're just hungry," he realized with an amused chuckle and a shake of his head. "I have been asleep for a while… Let's get dinner going, come on."

He followed the dog through the bushes and up the path leading the the small, wooden hunter's cottage standing on a small hill. A smirk graced his features when Nenya barked impatiently as he decided to check on his black steed in the small, shielded stable attached to the small wooden structure first, picking up some hay from his sturdy cart nearby and placing it in front of the animal for it to eat.

Nenya was barking incessantly by the time he was done and he walked up to her with an amused scowl. "Alright already, what's gotten into you?" he told her, walking up to the door and only then noticing it standing slightly ajar. He was certain to have locked it before leaving earlier.

His lips pressed together sternly as he prepared to find the worst in there, lifting his right hand to push against the wooden door.

The place had been completely ransacked.

Four of the seven rabbits he'd hung above the fireplace to dry were gone, the large sack with the meat he'd dried and salted lay empty and upturned on the floor, the small table now missing a leg and standing upside down with the two matching chairs pushed into a corner, one of them broken neatly in half.

When his gaze finally came to rest on his straw bed he let out an involuntary yell of surprise, waking the strange looking, black winged creature that had taken possession of it. It certainly did not look human and it was obviously too big to be a bird– or by the appearance of those wings– a bat. Was that a tail peeking from underneath a double slit, leather skirt? And black.. talons? Wait, he'd heard about these things–

A pair of downward-pointing, with gold decorated black horns then suddenly peeked from behind the leathery clawed wing that had been covering the creature's upper body and he found a pair of pale, eerie yellow eyes staring at him from behind golden brown bangs.

"Holy shi–!" he gasped, falling back against the wall near the door.

The creature suddenly jumped onto her feet– it was definitely feminine, there was no mistaking that part– and then fell back on all fours on the bed, hissing at him threateningly with her thin black tail whipping back and forth and baring her sharp fangs at him, before growling deep in her throat, much like a wounded animal.

Nenya barked and snarled at it warningly and the woman creature flapped her one good wing at it before making a pitiful, hurt purring sound when she mistakenly tried to move her injured wing as well.

Ichigo looked on in pity, understanding all too well that she was obviously feeling threatened and, judging by the way her body trembled and was covered in bruises and scrapes, feeling very much scared and in agony.

He knelt down next to Nenya to keep her quiet and then stood again once she was, approaching the intruder with raised hands carefully and making shushing sounds. "It's okay… you're okay… you're safe here. No one will hurt you."

She hissed at him warily, her golden eyes glaring at him as she scrambled away from him towards the closest corner of the cottage, her one good wing stretched open in warning while the other, clearly broken, quivered against her back. Her chest that went hidden behind the black leather band top was heaving from the effort it required for her to move the still functioning appendage.

"Stay away from me, disgusting human!" she panted, lifting her hands.

He halted in his approach, surprised that she could speak the common tongue and then alarmed when a black, ornate bow and arrow materialized between her outstretched hands and she took aim at his head. "Easy…" he murmured, lifting his hands innocuously and taking a step back. "You have magick…" he then stated quietly, nodding to himself when he connected the facts he gathered so far in his head. "You're one of the Daemonkin, right…?"

She never answered, but only continued to stare at him intently and with deep distrust, even when droplets of sweat rolled down her temples and her grip on the weapon faltered because of her apparent exhaustion.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I promise," he said softly, taking off his utility belt with his hunting knife and placing it on the floor very slowly.

"Kel Oblivium se Tra'aklin verdek…" she whispered in a trembling voice before he watched her eyes roll up into the back of her head as she passed out and fell in his arms when he caught her just in time. The bow and the arrow had now vanished.

Something stirred within him as he stared at her surprisingly beautiful face in rest, his eyes growing soft with sympathy at the thought of what she must've been through to be in the pitiable state that she was in. He couldn't explain the mystifying attraction he felt towards her, because he'd heard the horrifying legends about the Daemonkin and their history of abducting and allegedly eating humans, every child born in the last few centuries had, but her presence here with him, in that moment felt like it had been a long time coming. As if he'd been here, in this moment, with her, before.

Even the golden headpiece made of fine threads of gold and precious stones adorning her head and the two black horns protruding on each side of it felt vaguely familiar. He even caught himself smiling at her cute little horns for some reason, only to frown at himself a moment later. Her huge, black leathery wings were folded neatly on her back now and he had a good view of her pale skin, his eyes growing wide when he noticed how the black discoloration of her forearms and calves retreated back towards the tips of her hands and feet, making her nails that had been talon-like and black revert to a normal, human-like size and colour.

And then, as if caught in a loop inside his head, the words she uttered moments before came to him again and he laid his eyes on her sleeping face, eyes wide in silent disquiet.

He'd heard her voice and those same words before.

Because they were the voice and words he'd heard in his dreams.

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_**Thank you for reading! Like, fav, review okay? If you have a question, just shoot it in the comments!**_

_**To be continued…**_

_**-MistressBlaque-**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Chapter 2_**

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Something smelled amazing.

She smiled to herself and rolled to her side, keeping her eyes closed because she expected to be forced out of bed by her Karti any minute now. "Five more minutes, Tatsu…" she murmured, still smiling and pulling the covers higher up her face.

It was the startling sound of a dog barking that had her jump awake and gasp in pain a moment later. "What…?" she whispered, reaching for her right shoulder and wincing when she tried to move her wing and found herself unable to. When did her wing get injured? And when did it get bandaged? Her gaze then lifted from her black appendage and up to the modest, rustic and completely unfamiliar surroundings she found herself in. "Where-"

She jumped again when the silver colored canine sitting by the bed barked again and stared at her with suspecting icy blue eyes.

She hissed at it and pulled the covers up her body, scooting away from the animal, who answered with a low growl. It all came back to her now and she attempted to swat the dog with her left wing, only to have it jump out of its way. "Leave me alone! Get away from me!" she cried.

Nenya barked and growled again, baring her teeth in anger.

"Nenya!"

They both turned their heads to the entrance of the small room and found an orange haired human male standing there, holding a large stack of freshly cut dry wood in his arms.

"Come here, now!" he said authoritatively before watching the dog lowering her head submissively and walk over to her master with a soft whine. "Stay there," he then instructed the dog once he'd closed the door and stepped inside the space. He placed the wood on the floor next to the fireplace, took a second to check on the stew he had cooking on it and then finally turned to the visitor currently occupying his bed. "Goodmorning," he greeted her with a friendly smile.

She only blinked at him and pulled the covers closer to her again.

Ichigo smirked to himself and walked over to the cupboard by the door and took out two wooden bowls. "You must be hungry," he said after he'd filled one of them with the boar stew he'd made. He placed a spoon in the rich and savory meal and came up to her with it. "Here, eat up-"

The next moment he watched the bowl hit the ground when she cracked her tail like a whip against it.

"U vet ma giltar?!" she yelled, attempting to stand but failing. "U ta il ma gilt! U ta il ma gilt!" she then whispered in a panicked tone, cracking her tail in the air behind her menacingly with an angry hiss when he tried to approach and help her. "Oblivium Tra'ak…" she then whimpered, her body trembling in pain as she tried to move on her hands and knees and crawl off the bed. "Why couldn't you just take me…" she then said before breaking down in heart wrenching sobs on the edge of the bed. "Let me be where he has gone…"

Ichigo's brows furrowed together as he watched her, his heart feeling for this beautiful, alien creature. He slowly reached for the one chair he had left and pulled it closer to the foot of the bed so he could sit. "Where is it you're trying to get to?" he asked, going on what she just said that he managed to understand. "Is someone waiting for you?"

She only glanced at him with an annoyed stare, but never answered.

He sighed in silent frustration and scratched the back of his head. "You looked pretty beat up last night, so I took the liberty of patching you up the best I could, uhm…"

Not a word came from her, instead she fell back into quiet sobs, hugging her bed cover clad body tightly.

He hated not being able to do anything for her when she clearly was in need of help. "Please," he whispered, picking up the empty bowl from the floor when Nenya came to eat up the spilled stew. "I told you I mean you no harm and I meant it. I don't need to know where you're from or where you're going, just let me help you."

She sniffled and quieted, turning her despondent amber eyes to him. "Why would you?" she asked, clearly not believing him.

"Because we both know that you don't belong in this world," he told her softly. "If I can get you on your way, we can avoid unnecessary altercations with others of my kind."

A minim smile graced her lips and she chuckled humorlessly. "Why not just deliver me to the others of your kind and be done with it? Why help me first?"

"Because aside from having eaten a week worth of my meat and broken some furniture, you haven't done me any harm," he replied with a shrug, moving to stand. "And because you look like you could use some help."

"I don't want your help," she replied coldly.

He chuckled and served himself some stew in the bowl she discarded. "Clearly. There's the door, but I don't think you'll make it very far."

She huffed and tried standing up again before gasping in pain and falling back on the bed. "You must've poisoned me."

Understanding dawned on him and his smirk grew wider. "Oh, that's what you were yelling about earlier wasn't it?"

"You speak the Tra'aklin tongue…?" she wondered, lifting the covers off her bandaged legs to inspect them and only then realizing that she was wearing nothing but her briefs.

"No, but I figured it out just a few moments ago," he said turning around with the damping bowl and approaching his chair with it only to have it knocked out of his hands again. "Hey! That was for me!"

"U bal'orth! Ner hallert! Qodest op ner hallert?!" she cried, a furious blush now covering her cheeks as she tried to drape the covers around her naked body more effectively.

He blinked at her for a few moments and then nodded in understanding. "Your clothes," he stated moments before jumping out of the way of her attacking tail again. "Outside!" he cried in a panicked tone. They're outside drying! I washed them because they were stained in blood!"

"Inpordak! Var op Hemen lo se dirka malla il ro _inka_ vedert fro bal'orth!"

"Yeah, English would be nice-"

"Why did you take off my clothes!" she exploded. "How dare you! Are you some sort of pervert? Do you get off on this?"

Ichigo rose an incredulous eyebrow at that statement and pressed his lips together to keep calm. "You're going to make me say it again, aren't you?"

Her expression darkened and he could see her nails start to elongate while the black discoloration began to spread up her hands towards her elbows. "You think that this is a joke? I could have you dismembered for this!"

"Hey! Princess!" he hollered at her, his patience now gone. "Get it through your thick head, alright?! You were hurt, I gave you shelter. You looked hungry and I even tried to feed you after you_ ate_ the food I kept for my family. You slept in _my_ bed while I washed _your_ clothes, so tone it the fuck down will you?! I never laid a hand on you in any other way than to try and help."

Her expression turned startled at his outburst and her skin reverted back to normal. Her eyes turned soft and she made a diffident face. "Tharak'ar…" she whispered with her head turned to the side.

"That better have been 'thank you' or 'sorry'," he commented, sitting down on the chair and reaching for the bowl on the floor again with a sigh. Nenya was looking at him with a complacent stare as she continued to lick up the stew on the floor, her 'I told you she'd be trouble'-look making him roll his eyes in annoyance.

"It's both…" she whispered softly, making Ichigo look up in surprise. "'Tharak'ar' means both 'thank you' and 'sorry'." She smiled briefly and averted her eyes again.

"Talakar…" he echoed with a small smile.

She smirked a little and shook her head. "You need to roll your tongue more and there's a pause between the 'k' and 'ar'. Tharak'ar."

"Thalak'ar."

She laughed this time and nodded her head. "Close enough."

He grinned, finding her laugh to be the prettiest thing he'd ever heard. "Could you please tell me your name?"

She hesitated and bit her lower lip. "Just call me Orihime," she eventually said, smiling a little.

He nodded in acknowledgement and returned her smile. "That's a beautiful name. I'm Ichigo," he told her. "And this is Nenya," he said introducing his faithful dog, who huffed when she finished eating the stew off the floor and walked to her bed by the door.

"I don't think we like each other very much," Orihime admitted conversationally, making him smirk.

"No one can blame you, what with the way you met…" Ichigo reasoned, reaching for a piece of cloth on the table to dry the spots where the stew had fallen on. "She'll grow on you eventually, you'll see."

Orihime observed him quietly, wondering if the textbooks about the Humans she'd read about were wrong after all. He was nothing like the dimwitted and cowardly depictions in the books. He'd saved her, without even knowing who she was or the danger she brought with her just by being here. She wondered if it made him intrepid and brave or just plain stupid. He did seem kind and understanding, though.

"I've been wondering about something and please don't take this the wrong way," Ichigo began, catching her attention. "You have magick, so how come you don't heal yourself?"

Orihime placed her hands around her shoulders and glanced at her damaged wing. "Not all of us can heal ourselves. Only some highborn Tra'aklin can and even then, it's not very effective. And most of the time it is an unnecessary skill to have; we have very capable healers."

He frowned a little. "That word... Tra'aklin…?"

"The Tra'aklin," she said with a small proud smile, the colour returning to her cheeks as she reminisced about her beloved homeland. "Or Dragonkin in your tongue. We are a subspecies of the Daemlin - Daemonkin. We rule over all Daemlin."

"I don't think I ever heard of you. I didn't even know that there were different subspecies," Ichigo commented, sitting back with his empty bowl in his lap, expression pensive. He wouldn't tell her about his dreams, not yet.

She watched him stare into the bowl regretfully and felt pity for him. "What did you put in the stew?"

Ichigo lifted his head in wonder and then thought about it for a moment. "Boar meat, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, a tomato and salt," he enumerated, counting the ingredients off his fingers. "Does any of that sound like poison to you?" he added, grinning when it made her smile.

He then watched her lift her right hand and whisper a spell with her face staring unseeingly ahead in concentration. "I found everything."

He raised his eyebrows in confusion. "You found what-?"

A dark circle suddenly appeared above the table to reveal a portal through which a dead boar fell through on the table first, making the young hunter jump. Nenya lifted her head from her sleeping spot in alert.

"Wha-?"

Then three tomatoes and potatoes followed, a bunch of carrots, a few white mushrooms and a pack of salt. "Do you have a receptacle for the water?" she then asked him, still staring at nothing in particular.

"Uh, y-yeah…" he quipped, standing up hastily and rushing to the cupboard to grab the clay pot standing there. "Is here okay?" he asked her when he placed the receptacle underneath the horizontal portal warily.

A stream of water fell neatly into the pot and then the circle above it closed with a wave of her hand. "Will that be enough to make some more?"

He nodded, still not sure of what had just happened. "Err.. yeah. Just… where did you find all this?"

"Your woods are rich with natural resources unlike ours…" she answered, laying herself back down on the bed, her expression weary again. "I had to borrow the salt from a farmer a few miles from here though…"

Ichigo smiled in amazement and turned to her gratefully. "Tharak'ar, Orihime," he told her, only to find her fast asleep again. Her impressive display of a magick had understandably taken a lot of her energy.

"Good talk," he said with a hopeful smile, taking out his hunting knife from his belt and setting to work to skin the boar.

* * *

**_To be continued..._**

**_Like, fav, comment! Domo!_**

**_-MistressBlaque-_**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Chapter 3_**

* * *

Night had begun to fall over the woods again by the time she woke up that same day.

She groaned and sat up in the bed with a hand against her forehead. "Quodest ber ol?"

"Hey," Ichigo greeted her, looking up from the table where he was now sharpening his hunting tools and knives. "You're finally awake."

Orihime lifted her head to look at him and adjusted her sitting position on the bed and the covers hiding her still naked body. "Ichigo….?" she whispered drowsily, her long lashes fluttering down to her cheeks evidencing her ever present fatigue.

"Yeah," he whispered, rubbing his hands with a clean piece of cloth as he stood to approach her. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she answered, watching him sit down at the end of the bed gingerly. "Thank you."

He nodded in acknowledgement. "Are you hungry?"

She nodded and he stood back up to serve her a bowl of his stew. "How long have I been sleeping?" she wondered, turning her head to her left, contemplating getting back on her feet.

"Since this morning. It's the evening now."

Her eyes closed again and she sighed, still feeling immensely tired. She placed her feet on the wooden floor and gathered the sheets around her body, her right hand firmly holding the fabric together against her chest. She then attempted to stand up, finding herself able to do so with minimal pain this time. She took a few steps away from the bed and then winced at the sharp pain that shot up her right foot, her left hand shooting out for support against the wall next to her as she gasped.

"You should lay back down," Ichigo told her, placing her damping bowl on the table on his way to assist her.

"I can do this," she whispered stubbornly, trying to take another step before her knees buckled and she started falling.

"I got you," he whispered, catching her with his arms around her waist, wincing a little when her left wing hit him across the head unintentionally.

Their eyes met and she took in a quivering breath at how close his face was to hers. He would've been considered desirable in her home country, but not suited for high born Daemlin, let alone Tra'aklin. Without horns, he would've been a sex worker most likely and she would've never met him. "Tharak'ar… for my wing."

He smiled a little and sat back down with her on the edge of the bed. "It was a reflex, you're fine," he answered, looking up at the impressive appendage when she folded it back against her back. "Does your right wing still cause you much pain? I tried treating it the best I could…"

She placed a hand on her right shoulder and closed her eyes sadly. "It's broken in multiple places, it'll be a while before I can use it again. I'm basically grounded," she whispered, opening her eyes to stare at the floor.

Ichigo thought about it for a moment, figuring that if she used her wings as her main way of transportation that being grounded had to feel very threatening to her. "Do you have someplace that you need to be…?" he asked her, his voice dying out when he saw her shake her head before the end of her sentence. "Is there anyone waiting for you?"

Orihime took a shaky breath and then shook her head again. "I have no where to go," she admitted quietly. "Not anymore…"

His brows drew together in sympathy and he sighed. "The reason I ask is because I have to go back to my family tomorrow and bring back the meat I hunted for food and trade."

Despite herself, she found herself gasping in discontent over his words, the thought of him leaving her suddenly more frightening than it should be.

"I've already extended my stay with a day, which will make my family very worried," Ichigo continued, eyes growing pained when she saw the accusing gaze in her amber eyes.

"Well… can I… can I stay here until I'm strong enough to move on by myself?" she then asked carefully, voice small and timid.

"If you were back to your full health, I wouldn't mind too much leaving you here," he told her with a pensive stare to the sheets between them. "The hunting season is nearing its end and winter will come soon. There shouldn't be too many hunters in this area anymore who'd be in need of this shack."

"And I can find the resources I need from here. No one will know I'm here..." she whispered quietly, looking at him with a reassuring smile. She briefly wondered why she felt the need to reassure him. Maybe it was because he seemed to be genuinely worried about leaving her here?

Ichigo shook his head in protest, changing his mind. "If someone finds you here, they could have you lynched, Orihime." He paused and looked at her in concern, catching her off guard with his lingering stare. "Or worse. I won't have that on my conscience."

She blinked silently and something in the back of her mind resonated with this moment she shared with him, making the world seemingly stand still. It felt like an echo that had been lost in time and only now had found its way to her in that instant. She couldn't make sense of it, not even when this feeling resounded with her magick and left her breathless, suspended in a confusing flow of indiscernible sounds and images.

"-hime…? Orihime?"

Her eyes blinked open again and she was catapulted back into the present with him staring at her in a slight panic. "Uh…?"

"What just happened?" he wondered, placing a hand on her right shoulder in an effort to comfort her, but quickly retreating it with a startled movement when the skin where he touched her briefly glowed iridescently and she shivered with a moan. "What was that?!"

She turned heavy lidded eyes his way, her slightly parted lips moving slightly as she panted, her cheeks now tinged with a soft pink. "I don't know… something took me over for a moment… this overwhelming feeling…" she purred, rolling her head on her shoulders sensually. "I couldn't stop it, it just…"

Ichigo cleared his throat and averted his gaze bashfully, turning to watch her again when her purring had stopped, trying his hardest to make sense of what she was saying. "You felt yourself being taken over…?"

Orihime took a deep breath after a while and opened her eyes, her pupils shrinking back to their normal size now that she'd calmed down. "Why is it, that you seem to care so much about what'll happen to me….?" she whispered, looking towards the closed curtains of the window ahead of her. "It doesn't make any sense that you would; you don't know me nor the world I'm from or the danger I bring. You're better off just leaving me here-"

"I've been dreaming about you for as long as I can remember," Ichigo confessed, getting that it must be confusing for her to be here with him when he had no obligations whatsoever towards her. "Something stirred within me last night. Whenever I look at you, it's like I know you somehow, like I can tell that you won't hurt me."

Orihime's eyes had grown wide while she listened to him and she found herself looking at him again, her heart beating harder in her chest in silent disquiet. What was this sudden uneasy feeling?

"It's silly," he continued, smiling to himself when Nenya came to him and rested her face on his right thigh, looking at him comfortingly. "I've always wanted to believe that there was something more for me out there, that this life I'm living couldn't just be it. Meeting you has made me hope that maybe I was right and that maybe you could tell me-"

"I have no answers for you," Orihime interrupted him coldly with a shake of her head.

He pressed his lips together in silent disappointment before smiling in understanding. "This 'danger' you spoke of… it's not that you have someone waiting for you, but that someone is after you, isn't it? Is that the reason you're so beat up? You escaped from your pursuers into this world-" he fell silent when flashes from his recurring dream came up in his mind. "In my dreams I keep seeing a crown of obsidian smashing to the ground… blood splattered walls… a beast of smoke and fire chained in a cage."

She jumped onto her feet in horror and pressed herself against the wall in consternation. "Oblivium Tra'ak!" she exclaimed, eyes widening even more.

"You call out to me in those dreams, Orihime," Ichigo whispered, standing in turn with his hands lifted in an innocuous manner. "Or at least, it feels like you do."

"This is impossible," she whispered, now looking at him in terror. "How could you possibly know about the Eska'al of my people?"

"What is 'Oblivium Tra'ak…?" he asked instead, desperately wanting to know now that he had her talking. "Why do I dream of you deliberately jumping into the nothingness…? Why do I feel connected to you like this…? What does it mean?"

"I don't know!" she cried, her eyebrows knitted together in fear. "I don't know why you think I'm the one calling out to you, I don't know why you've seen whatever you think you've seen!"

And then he understood what she was doing and he gave her a grateful smile. "I'm not from your world, and I have no knowledge whatsoever about the way things work there, but right now, you're here and you have no knowledge of how things work over here either."

Orihime gulped and turned her face to the side, still visibly in unease.

"I feel like you're trying to keep me out of your world's business just as much as I would like to keep you safe from those I know who wouldn't hesitate to poach you for your horns, wings or tail..."

Her eyes rolled his way again, but her mouth remained shut.

"So I'm willing to wait until we know each other better for answers. Can we do it like this, Orihime? Please?" He reached for her right hand and they both watched in wonder how her skin lit up again on contact and trails of glistening colors moved up her arm, shoulder and chest. "Wow…" he murmured at the enchanting spectacle, looking at her and catching her small smile of pleasure. "Have you ever had this happen before?"

She shook her head quickly and took a trembling breath when the pleasurable pulses coursing through her faded and her skin reverted back to its normal color. "It's never happened before…" she breathed, slowly pulling her hand out of his.

He found her flushed face to be one of the most adorable sights he'd ever seen and he grinned. "But it doesn't hurt, does it?"

She glanced at him in annoyance, because she knew that he knew that whatever this was made her feel very good. "Do I look like I'm in pain?" she whispered harshly, blushing even harder when he laughed merrily, his deep baritone vibrating deep inside of her like a drum and making her gasp, the iridescence briefly exploding all over her skin again.

What the hell was this? They didn't even touch this time!

She made a small embarrassed sound and gathered the sheets away from her feet so she could get away from being trapped between him and the wall. "What is happening?!" she panted, standing behind him by the table now.

Ichigo's eyes went wide. "Orihime, you-"

"It's not Sakumtir, so what is going on?" she continued, looking herself over in search of more unexpected discolorations and completely ignoring Ichigo's amazed stare.

"Orihime, are you sure you're not in any pain right now?" the young hunter asked, taking a step closer to her.

"I just told you that it doesn't hurt," she replied irritatedly and dismissively, moving herself closer to the fireplace so she could inspect herself better in the light of the fire. "I'm fine."

He watched her fall silent, his smirk ready when she turned to him with an incredulous stare. "My legs…! I'm-"

"You're walking!" he said happily. "And most of your bruises and cuts are gone as well. Is your wing…?"

Orihime reached for her right shoulder with her left hand and tried to move the appendage only to wince in pain and shake her head. "It feels like it's healed a bit, though."

"So then maybe you're closer to a full recovery than you thought?" Ichigo wondered, smiling hopefully. "That was weird though. Does this always happen when Humans touch a Dragonkin?"

She shook her head in rebuttal again and then fell silent once more, her expression pensive. "Whatever it was," she said, still looking deep in thoughts, "It gave my self-healing abilities a boost…"

Ichigo's brows shot up in surprise. "Self-healing abilities? Then you're-"

"There's a legend told to all Tra'aklin children about the Tra'ak - the Dragon- that fell in love with a Hemen child- a Human child," she began, her eyes falling on her clothes that lay neatly folded on a basket near the fireplace. "Realizing that their love could not be, the Human child chose to become one with the Tra'ak so they could be together for all of eternity."

"How did they manage to become one?" Ichigo asked, turning around to give her some privacy when she opened up the sheets a little and looked at him pointedly, desiring to get dressed.

"Magick," Orihime answered, letting the covers fall down her body while reaching for the black leather double slit skirt first and draping it over her hips, clasping its ends together above her right hip. "The Tra'ak bonded their essences together for all eternity."

He kneeled in front his dog who was now begging for his attention. "What happened to them…?"

"Some say that they both died, that the Magick required for the spell failed them," she whispered, now putting on her black leather bandeau top with the laces on its back. "Others say that the Human child escaped to the human world, carrying the essence of the Tra'ak within him, and thus becoming immortal as a result."

"So they didn't have a happy ending?" Ichigo wondered, looking up when she approached him and turned her back to him, pulling her long golden brown hair over her left shoulder while she held the bandeau top in place with her right arm. He smiled and now stood from the bed he'd been sitting on while petting Nenya and reached for the loose laces on her back.

"Some of us believe that they did have a happy ending either way… they found each other again in Oblivium," she continued, closing her eyes and biting her lips when his fingers lightly grazing her skin made her toes curl in pleasure.

"In death, you mean?" Ichigo whispered back softly, eyes going over the delicate lines of her neck, over the seemingly soft skin that seamlessly transitioned into the majestic black leathery wings that adorned her back and over the enticing crease in between them that ran all the way down to the slight curve of her hidden backside. Small sparks of nacreous light would course down her skin when he'd accidentally touch her and he couldn't help but be mesmerized by them for a small moment. "What do you believe?" he asked instead, putting the last knot in the back laces. "Do you think that the dragon and the human are still alive, living a life of immortality on Earth?"

"It is said that when the Hemen turned into an immortal being, his skin glowed with opalescent colors every time the Tra'ak mind would touch his," Orihime said, turning around when she felt his hands move away from her and he took a step back. "As proof that they were now indeed one," she said and their eyes met again.

Now it was his turn to blush furiously at the sight of her petite, voluptuous body in this alluring outfit. "But what do you believe?" he asked her, turning his head away to look at his dog, that seemed unhappy.

"I think he's still alive, living here…" Orihime whispered, combing her hair over her left shoulder with her fingers so she could braid the long locks into a loose over-the-shoulder braid. "Maybe he can give me an explanation about what is happening to me and perhaps help me… now that I can't go back," she whispered, sitting down at the table and looking up at him questioningly about the stew.

"But where do you think you can find him?" Ichigo whispered in wonder, lifting a hand to have her wait before she started eating, picking up the cold bowl and removing his weapons and sharpening stones that still littered the table. He then returned to her after he'd filled up the bowl again with warm stew.

"It is said that he would reside in company of Dirka Tra'ak," she answered, smiling at him when he placed the bowl down on the table.

"Dirka Tra'ak?"

"Earth dragons," she clarified, picking up her spoon.

Ichigo gave her a quizzical stare. "We have dragons? I thought they died out ages ago..."

"All realms have dragons," she grinned, sipping from the food and moaning in delight.

"Eat up, there's more than enough," he told her with a satisfied grin before looking around to find something to sit on so he could join her at the other side of the table.

Orihime looked up from her food and then lifted her brows in understanding. "Here," she said, making a twisting movement with her right wrist and hand, making the broken pieces of his chair that he'd placed outside appear from a dark portal. She laughed at his confused look and then made another hand movement to put the chair she'd broken the night before back together. "Tharak'ar… I was delirious with hunger and pain last night…"

Ichigo pulled the piece of furniture to him and gingerly, slowly seated himself on it, as if expecting to fall through, making the young Tra'aklin laugh.

"So, where did you expect to find dragons here?" he asked her after he'd served her a second bowl of stew.

Orihime thought about it for a moment as she lowered the bowl from her lips and placed it down on the table. "I need to find mountains or any other highly placed places. If you have a volcano or a sulfuric marshland anywhere close I could go look there too. Dragons like isolated places."

Ichigo contemplated her words, his expression pensive behind the folded hands he had pressed against his lips. "I'm coming with you," he then told her, nodding in determination.

She suppressed the smile that threatened to come to the surface at those words and shook her head instead. "What about your family? What about getting them all of the meat you've hunted?"

"After," he clarified, smiling at her. "After I've given them all of my game."

A soft smile formed on her lips in turn and she sighed regretfully. "I can't wait for you, I'm sorry."

"You don't have to, you're coming with me," Ichigo told her with a bright smile. "You'll be safer with me than here all by yourself."

She wasn't able to keep the blush that covered her face next from exploding all over her face and the pulses of the colorful light from playing under her skin. "But you will only put yourself in more danger if I'm with you…"

His eyes shone with the light she was emitting and he smirked amusedly. "You're coming, and that's that. I need some answers out of you if we're to team up to find the answers you're looking for," he grinned when she smiled back in agreement. "Though… Uhm I was wondering if you could do something about your wings, tail and horns…" He watched her grab hold of her tail with a contemplative stare and then reach up absent-mindedly to her left horn. "I mean, not because they're unsightly or anything-"

"How's this?"

Ichigo watched how a dark circle descended onto her and first passed down her head, where her horns and head piece disappeared and then down her shoulders where her wings vanished and further down her body, her clothes turning into more practical, huntress clothes. She stood and looked down at the brown leather leggings, the matching ranger boots and the under bust corset with the beige cold shoulder tunic.

"Better," he agreed, smiling in appreciation of her alluring, human form.

Orihime grinned to herself and held out her left hand to catch the deep green hooded cape that fell through the portal she'd summoned. She twirled around on herself and put on the garment, giggling happily. "I've never worn anything this fun before."

"You look good in it," Ichigo commented, eyes soft as he watched her.

Orihime threw the hood over her head with a playful giggle. "Tomorrow it is, then."

Ichigo chuckled and nodded. This was the first time he felt he saw her true personality come through and he wondered how long it'd be before he'd lose his heart to her, if he hadn't already.

* * *

**_Review, Like &amp; Follow, Domo!_**

**_Catch ya'll on the next one!_**

**_-MistressBlaque-_**


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

* * *

A suspicious sound caught her attention and the doe lifted her head from where she'd been drinking from the small stream.

The woods around her seemed quiet, but she didn't trust it, her ears twitching in an effort to intercept more of the dubious sound she'd thought to have heard. Her thirst for water beckoned her to drink again and for a moment overruled her chariness, so she cautiously lowered her head once more, feeling relieved when she heard nothing but the soothing sounds of the awakening Crestfallen woods.

A black arrow lodged itself in her left flank but a moment later and she collapsed with a soft grunt, her dying body only panting a few more times before the life slipped out of her with the blood that colored the stream deep red.

"You're actually very good at this."

Orihime jumped out from behind the bush she and Ichigo had been hiding and smiled softly. "Back home, I'm considered one of the top archers of my generation."

"Really…?" Ichigo said with a doubtful smirk, following close behind her with Nenya. "We'll have to put that claim to the test."

She laughed and pulled her hood from her head, looking back at him with a taunting grin. "Oh, because you think a Hemen has a chance against a Tra'aklin?"

He smirked at her and watched how she knelt next to the felled animal, her ornate black bow that she'd been holding disappearing into the void again as she whispered a soft thanks to the dead deer. "Sure, if there's no Magick involved, I think I have good chances."

"Boo," she protested with a playful scowl, making the arrow that made the kill vanish with a snap of her fingers. "Then it'd be even less of a challenge."

He laughed and knelt next to her, looking the deer over critically. "Clean shot, not bad."

"Told you," she replied smugly, standing up again. "Do you want me to take this back to camp–?"

Ichigo suddenly turned his head to his left in alert and lifted a hand to stop her from talking. "Something is coming this way," he murmured, lowering himself down on his haunches and checking to see if she followed suit.

Orihime lowered herself and placed her right palm on the moist earth near the stream to concentrate on the vibrations rippling through the ground in their direction. "It's a stag."

"They were probably together," Ichigo murmured, slowly standing up and reaching for his hunting knife.

"We don't need it," she told him, looking at the felled deer. "She's more than enough for tonight and tomorrow."

"I know, but if he came looking for her, it could be trouble," he reasoned, looking in the direction of the moving bushes in the distance on the other side of the stream.

"That still doesn't mean you need to kill it," Orihime said, walking past him and slowly wading through the knee-high clear water to come to a halt in the middle of the stream. "Hemen can be so wasteful…"

"What are you doing?" Ichigo said in a hard whisper, his eyes darting between her and the approaching menace. "Orihime!"

"Shush," she told him calmly with a commanding hand gesture. "Quiet."

He pressed his lips together in silent disagreement and scowled, moving closer to her just in case he'd be ending up forcefully removing her out of harm's way. He'd found her derisive stubbornness to be a trait of hers that he didn't like one bit.

The agitated movements in the bushes ahead were but a few meters away now and he watched, half perplexed, but mostly anxious at the way she approached the opposing bank of the small river, her right hand raised as if getting ready to pet the dangerous animal about to emerge from the thicket.

He jumped on his feet when the stag finally came through and immediately focused its attention on her. "Goddamit–"

"Laa, zahad…" she whispered consolingly, making shushing sounds and still approaching the now staggering deer. "U vet alti fo belar…" she said, and to Ichigo's surprise, it seemed to calm down a bit, but its eyes still looked at her in distrust. It bucked its head and body and took a few steps back, away from her outstretched hand. "Tharak'ar zahad," Orihime then whispered, eyes turning sad. "Sel bet uta'amal…?"

The stag quieted, as if understanding what she was saying and made a soft whiny sound as it lowered its head, seemingly saddened by her words.

Ichigo continued to watch her interact with the animal for a few extra minutes, silently in awe of how easily she had managed to calm it down and wondering if it was an ability innate to all Tra'aklin to be able to communicate with animals. Orihime placed her right hand on the side of its neck and smiled encouragingly at it and Ichigo smiled in turn when the stag gently nudged the side of its face against hers, making her giggle. "Daga zahad, daga. Tharak'ar," she told it, tapping her hand against its neck amicably and watching the stag turn and disappear into the woods.  
"I need to learn how to speak your tongue," Ichigo said with a small grin as she waded her way back to him with a serene smile. "What did you tell it?"

"That we're sorry that we had to kill the one promised for him and that her sacrifice won't go to waste…" Orihime then gave him an apologetic stare. "Even if you did learn our tongue, I don't think you'd be able to make them understand you."

"So only Tra'aklin can communicate with animals?" He asked her, walking back to the lifeless deer on the south bank.

She made a small hand movement and the deer got engulfed in a black and purple dome as it was teletransported to their camp. "All Daemonlin can, but only with the animals whose minds haven't been tainted by human influence," she said, her eyes resting on Nenya. The white wolfsdog sat down on her hind legs and stared at her pretentiously with calm eyes.

Ichigo smiled at her specific choice of words. "You mean the animals we've domesticated."

"'Enslaved' would be a more correct term," she commented, shifting her gaze from his companion and wringing out the water from the bottom of her cloak as they walked back towards the path. "But I can understand why. We don't have a livestock system, or at least not anymore. The few species of animals we have left are all endangered and we treat them with the utmost respect, only killing if we absolutely need to and even then it's done so they feel minimal pain. Earth is abundant with resources, so there is overindulgence and unnecessary cruelty because there's more of everything anyway. We don't have that luxury."

"So then your people don't eat meat?" He asked, looking back at her.

"Of course we do," she replied with a grin. "We have it imported. From a sister world with which we have trading agreements."

Ichigo nodded vaguely and scratched the back of his head, walking back up the path running parallel to the small stream with Nenya following close behind them.

Ichigo pursed his lips in thoughtful observation for a few moments and a smirk grew on his lips when he thought of how she'd react to his next words.

"So, if your kind doesn't domesticate animals in your world, how do you get things like agriculture and travelling done? Do you… domesticate humans instead?"

She smirked back knowingly and shook her head, jumping down an elevated mass of rock in the road giddily. "Your world, this world, is still considered primitive to our standards. We have Magick and Alchemy at our disposal, so we rarely need physical labor to get things done. And even when we do require physical labor of any kind, it is recompensated. Always."

"You haven't answered my question," he replied, lifting a low hanging branch by the side of the path where a secret dirt path lead them deeper into the woods through the scattered remains of the Crestfallen ruins.

She took a small, calming breath and passed underneath the branch. "Maybe if you formulated your question more concisely you'd receive the answer you're looking for," she replied, looking up at the dense canopy of leaves above them and then at the enchanting forest they were now about to enter.

Translucent beams of light filtered through the bed of leaves covering the entire area and the air between the trees felt heavy and potent, nature having found its way in and around the many left overs of ancient buildings and broken statues. "Wow," she whispered to herself, taking a few steps and breathing in the history of the place.

Ichigo watched her for a moment before following behind her, expression apprehensive. "Do you keep humans as slaves…?"

Orihime placed a hand on a humongous white stone face that lay in the grass beneath a circle of trees and stopped in her tracks, taking in a shaky breath. "We have humans…" she confessed, now seemingly unsure about the words she should use. "They're the descendants of those we– took… centuries ago. They are part of our society. We do not keep them as slaves."

He moved around her so he could look at her face, to see how he'd react to his next words. "So that part of our shared history is true…?" he murmured, eyebrows raised. "I'm surprised that you're not denying it."

"What would be the point? It's not like we ate them." She sighed and looked away pensively, missing his amused expression. "It's not something we're particularly proud of though… well, most of us aren't anyway. And Earth has been declared off limits since the Reaping."

"What do those humans do?" Ichigo asked, intrigued by this new piece of information and now needing to know more. "What is or was their purpose, if not slavery? Or food?" He frowned a little when she bit her lip in indecision and closed her eyes.

"They were used to create Kati," she whispered very quietly, her eyebrows furrowing together in shame. "Hybrids."

Ichigo blinked a few times before he took a step back, visibly thrown aghast. "Oh my God."

Orihime pressed her lips together and grabbed her right elbow with her left hand, taking on an apologetic stance. "This was hundreds of years ago, those experiments were stopped long ago," she whispered, looking at him pleadingly, his appalled expression too much for her to bear. "Like I said, most of us aren't proud of that piece of our history, but if it wasn't for you, the Daemlin as a whole would've become a race on its way to extinction."

His horror struck expression did fade a bit as he looked at her penitent countenance and he took a hesitant step closer to her. "How is that possible…?"

She lifted her eyes and met his, silently relieved to see mostly confusion in them and not hate.

"About your race, I mean…" he clarified, shaking his head in wonder. "You have Magick and you seem so powerful…"

A sarcastic sigh escaped her and she cocked her head to the side derisively. "'Seem' being the operative word. We're far from what we used to be and Daemlin are good at keeping up appearances," she said, twirling around in her human form to prove her point. "We are a proud people and the purity of one's Magick has always been held in the highest of regards. Some of our ancestors even resorted to inbreeding to preserve a family's Magick," she paused there, shook her head and ran a hand over the nose bridge of the disembodied stone head. "It's what ultimately caused our downfall."

Ichigo never said anything and simply listened to her talking as they walked on through the maze of silent ruins, the pain and sadness she felt coming through clearly in her words. He felt sorry for her because it was clear that she didn't agree with everything her ancestors had done to other people in the past, yet she was still proud of being a Tra'aklin despite the monstrosities she was now telling him about. Of course, he could relate because although he was a proud human, he didn't approve of everything his race did to others and each other either.

"When they finally realized that the inbreeding was doing more harm than good, measures were taken to start 'importing' Hemen for breeding experiments and ultimately, they worked," she said, taking the hand he was holding out for her so he could pull her up the rocky slope towards an elevated plateau on which they had set camp. She landed on both feet in the grass in front of him and breathed in with a soft gasp when his other hand landed on the small of her back, holding her body against his, to make sure she'd found her balance properly.

"Are you okay?"

The young Tra'aklin nodded breathlessly and blushed, closing her eyes in embarrassment when he grinned at the colors playing under her skin for moment and then turned to walk on.

"So what you're saying is that there are generations of both humans and half-human/half-demonkin hybrids walking around in your world? So are human-Demonkin relationships normal over there?"

Orihime opened her eyes again and for a moment lost all concept of space and time, the echoes of his touch still tingling on her skin. "Huh…?"

Ichigo turned to her again and saw her confused expression. "Orihime…?"

"You need to stop touching me…" she said in a breathy whisper, closing her eyes when her head started spinning. "I can't… this… this is…"

"Hey, hey!" he exclaimed when she fell down on all fours, panting heavily as her glamouring Magick faded in and out. "What's going on with your powers?!" he wondered, hovering above her in worry.

The disguise she'd hidden her true self under suddenly disappeared completely and she was back in full Tra'aklin form, body trembling on the grassy ground. "I can't uphold a steady output of Magick when we touch…" she murmured, pushing herself back onto her feet and quickly moving herself towards the protective sheltering of the trees and away from the edge of the plateau. She leant with her back against the trunk of a tree, closing her eyes wearily.

He looked at the scenery below and beyond, hoping that no wandering traveller had seen what just happened. "We should reach my hometown by tomorrow afternoon and we will find answers as to why this is happening to you, I promise."

She bit her lower lip and tilted her head back when another furious blush spread over her face at his words and she whimpered in pleasure. "Oblivium Tra'ak, this is getting ridiculous…" she moaned, rubbing her naked thighs together through the slits of her leather skirt, chest heaving slightly while she writhed against the tree. "And embarrassing!" she breathed, tears now shining in the corners of her eyes.

Ichigo was blushing by then as well, not knowing what to do with himself either. He had no experience whatsoever when it came to women or Tra'aklin females for that matter. "Is there anything I can do…?"

"Please… Just… just stay away from me," she whispered with her eyes closed. "I lose all control over my body and Magicks when you're near me…"

He frowned in helplessness, wanting to walk up to her, but not knowing if he even should. "And in the entire history of humans and Dragonkin this only ever happened once…? And in a legend no less… Why now? Why with us?"

"I don't know!" she gasped in a high pitched voice, her folded wings fluttering restlessly on her back, making her moan and whimper in pain because of her injured appendage.

"Ok, we can't stay here with you like this," the young hunter decided, walking up to her despite her desperately blushing face. "Even if you can't revert back to a human form, we have to keep moving… can you walk?"

Her head was spinning by then and she was panting harder, sliding down onto the mossy ground. "Ichigo…" she whispered in warning, scooting away from him with a shake of her head. "Don't…"

"We need to go. The camp is not that far anymore," he told her, kneeling next to her and moving in to pick her up in a two hand carry.

A stinging sensation then suddenly spread across his left cheek when she slapped him across the face with her tail. "I said don't touch me! Why must you be so persistent?!"

He turned his head back towards her to glare at her, passing the tip of his tongue over the inside of his painful cheek. "So you'd rather stay here in the open?! You know, there's a difference between being stubborn and just plain stupid!"

Her expression darkened and she pushed him off of her. "Really?! Do _you_ know the difference?!" she yelled back sarcastically. "What part of _'don't touch me'_ can't you get through your thick head?!"

He gritted his teeth in anger and bit back a hurtful comment. "Fine!" he said instead, throwing his hands up in defeat. "Then stay here!"

"Fine!" she yelled back when he stood and walked off with Nenya following close behind him.  
Orihime huffed and turned her head to the side haughtily, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Dafroth Hemen!" she muttered under her breath, shaking her head irritatedly. She did glance in the direction he'd gone after a few moments though, suddenly realising that she was very much alone in unknown woods, grounded and without reliable Magick.

Pain suddenly shot up both her legs and she gasped, grabbing onto her legs in shock before a bolt of white hot pain coursed through her right wing, bringing tears to her eyes.

"What…?" she whimpered, seeing all of the gashes and blemishes that had gone the night before appear all over her legs and her body. "What's happening to me…?"

Fear now took hold of her as she recalled the gruelling hours that followed her fall two days ago. Never in her life had she felt as helpless and alone than in those moments and she knew that the trauma from that experience would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Something moved between the trees and bushes to her right and she gasped, wondering what she was going to do if it was another human and he discovered her here, all alone and wounded… like easy prey.

She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, regretting to have let Ichigo go like he did, but also hating the fact that he'd gone so quickly! Why did he leave her all alone? He'd promised he would protect and help her! She hadn't meant what she'd said… she needed him, couldn't he see that?

"Ichigo, u dafroth!" she whimpered, ducking her head in dread when the sounds around her came closer. "How could you…?"

"What did I do now….?"

Orihime looked up at the sound of his voice and sighed in relief, unable to keep her joy of seeing him inside. "I thought you left me," she whimpered, watching him kneel beside her and quickly wiping away the tears that rolled down her cheeks. "I thought–"

She fell silent when he pressed his index finger against her forehead. "You need to stop making assumptions, princess," he told her,smirking at the iridescence that flickered on the spot where he'd touched her. His eyes went soft when she blushed again. "I went to get Andels."

Now she saw the black steed that stood a few meters away from them. "Your horse…" she said, smiling to herself in realisation.

"Yeah, come on," he grinned, standing and taking both her hands in his to pull her onto her feet. Only then did he see the wounds that marred her legs and body. "What happened?! Why are you–?"

Orihime looked away, having had an idea as to why the wounds that had healed themselves thanks to his touch had appeared again. "I don't know…" she chose to say instead, balancing herself on her hurting, naked feet.

Ichigo's brows shot up when he realised what she failed to say and took note of the situation that preluded this outcome. "I need to be by your side for your healing Magick to keep working."

Her skin lit up like a firework and she blushed hard. Did he really need to phrase it like that?

Although she felt very much flustered now, it didn't escape him that her hands holding his had tightened their grip and that the tip of her tail was coiling on itself, as if very pleased and happy.

Her eyes were directed to the ground as they both waited for her Magick to start healing herself again in the semi-disconcerting silence that followed. The tender smile he gave her went unnoticed, but he didn't care, because all he could think about in that moment was her and how gorgeous she looked, her skin glowing so beautifully in the dim light of the forest.

Orihime let out a sigh when her pain changed into pleasure and she closed her eyes before arching her neck with a smirk, turning back into her huntress form.

"Better…?" he whispered, smiling back when she nodded bashfully and let go of his hands. "Tharak'ar. I never should've left you alone. I never realised it would be this dangerous for you."

His words moved her and she took a step closer to him, shaking her head. "No, I'm the one who's sorry… " she confessed in a timid voice. "I was being stupid and all you wanted was to help me. You saved me. Again."

He shifted his gaze from her lips to her eyes and watched them grow softer with increasing affection.

"Tharak'ar, Ichigo."

He nodded in acknowledgement and guided her to his awaiting steed. "Have you ever ridden one before?" he asked her softly, watching her shake her head. "Then I'll ride him with you. Can you reach the stirrup with your left foot?"

"It's too high," she admitted with a chuckle.

"Okay, then let's do it like this."

He took place on the horse's back and then reached for her with his left hand and took her right one while her foot climbed into the right stirrup and she pushed herself up while he pulled, making her land sideways in front of him with her right arm falling around his waist and her torso against his. "Whoa…" she breathed with a chuckle, glowing momentarily.

"You can straddle him if you want," Ichigo suggested when she wiggled around in the hopes of finding a more comfortable position. Orihime then smiled giddily and did as proposed, throwing her left leg around Andels' back, finding this new experience to be exhilarating.

"Oh…!" she gasped silently when his hands took hold of her hips to help her balance herself better on the horse.

"Alright," he whispered over her right shoulder, ignoring the sparks of light that shone on the side of her throat and face. He took Andels' reins in his hands. "Are you comfortable? You can lean on me if you feel like you need to."

Orihime closed her eyes and smiled gratefully with a nod, feeling truly safe for the first time since she landed in this strange and primitive world, leaning back against his firm chest and breathing in his musky scent.

She decided for herself that she liked it.

Perhaps even a whole lot more than she needed to.

* * *

_**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, liked and is following this! I'm so very excited to announce that this story is getting some artwork done, so keep an eye on my tumblr page for updates regarding this!**_

_**-MistressBlaque**_-


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5**_

* * *

"Your sky is so blue…"

It was the afternoon now and they were riding down a dirt road by the vegetated cliff overlooking the Merridian Ocean separating this content from the next.

Merridior was the more Eastern of the five known continents, it being well known for its booming centre of trade found in the Capital town of Phorgas, named after the Royal Family that ruled the land.

The people were mostly artisans and merchants, farmers and hunters. With each trade being regulated by the respective guilds of each town.

There were more commercial towns like Phorgas scattered all over the densily populated kingdom, but all paled in comparison to the beauty and magnificence of the Capital.

Or at least, that's what Ichigo told her when they first arrived by the oceanic path.

The becalming rocking of the carriage made her sleepy and she yawned, sitting up from her resting position between the many sacks of provisions and merchandise in the back of the vehicle.

Ichigo turned around in his driver's bench and smirked at her. "Oh? What color is your sky?"

"Purple…" she answered, scooting over towards the side of the cart to lean with her back against it. "And we have four suns."

"I can't even imagine that…" he replied, facing the road again. "Does it get really hot there, then?"

Orihime chuckled and shook her head. "No, but there are years when we barely experience night."

"You have years in which it's almost never night?"

"During the Summeryears, yeah," she answered, tilting her head back to breathe in the clean and fresh air. "Others like me thrive during the Winteryears though. That's when we have 13 days of daylight over a period of a whole year.

"That's insane…" Ichigo commented, unable to wrap his mind around such a concept. "Is it summer or winter on your world right now?"

"Winteryear is coming to an end soon," Orihime replied, pulling her knees to her chest with a forlorn smile. "They'll be celebrating the birth of the Vivium Tra'ak during a grand festival in the capital."

He let a few moments pass between them in silence, sensing her homesickness without her having to tell him anything. "Sounds like a lot of fun."

Orihime rested her chin on one of her knees and nodded, quietly wiping away a stray tear from her left cheek. "Yeah…" she murmured, taking a breath and shaking her head dismissively. Her gaze met Nenya's on the other side of the cart and she looked away, missing the canine's sympathetic stare.

"I've noticed that you keep calling out to this 'Oblivium Tra'ak'," Ichigo inquired, changing the subject on purpose in hopes of putting her mind on something else. "Is that like your God or something? Like this Vivium Tra'ak?"

"The Twin Dragons of Light and Dark," she nodded. "They are the patron protectors of all Daemlin, and of the Tra'aklin in particular."

"Ah, makes sense now," Ichigo said. "So Oblivium stands for-?"

"Darkness, death, lust, power, ambition," Orihime replied, moving onto her feet carefully.

"And Vivium…?" he wondered, watching her jump nimbly onto the steering bench next to him.

"Light, life, love, compassion, forgiveness, empathy." She grinned, feasting her eyes on the amazing flora around her.

"And you follow… the Oblivium Tra'ak…?"

She lifted her left palm up to the sky and watched, fascinated, how a small honeybee flew around her hand inquisitively, her eyes conveying such a deep sense of wonder. "I was born during a Winteryear, therefore under the sign of the Oblivium Tra'ak, yes."

Ichigo silently watched her, again mesmerized by how easily she connected with the abundant nature around them.

"It's why my Magick is dark-based," she informed, generating a small portal through which she let the bee fly through, only the have it appear through another portal next to his head, making him jump.

She chuckled amusedly. "Those born during a Summeryear fall under the blessing of Vivium and they have light-based Magicks."

"I wonder how that looks like," Ichigo wondered, still beating the air around him to chase away any more insects hovering around him.

"Mostly the same," she told him with a shrug. "It's just white instead of purple."

They were approaching a small seaside fishers' village now and they could see young children running out of it to meet them on the road.

"This is the village of Nakar," Ichigo announced, waving at the children merrily. "I always stop here on my way home from a hunting trip."

"You seem popular," she smirked, looking up at him warmly. "They're so happy to see you."

"Yeah, it's been awhile since I stopped by," he replied. "They're much bigger than I remember…"

Orihime chuckled at his perplexed face. "That's what younglings do… they grow you know."

"Ichigo! Ichigo! Did you bring us something good, Ichigo?"

"Who's the pretty lady, Ichigo?"

"Is she your girlfriend?"

He started to laugh before a disconcerting thought crossed his mind. What if Orihime started to glow around these people? "Stop saying stupid things, come on!" he replied jokingly to the laughing children who were now dancing around the slowed down cart and daring a precautionary glance her way.

Orihime was simply laughing and waving at the children, seemingly fine. She wasn't glittering or glowing and he sighed in relief.

"What's her name?"

"When are you getting married?"

"They're adorable," Orihime giggled, shaking her head in amusement.

Ichigo scowled in embarrassment. "Yeah, you would think so… little nosy bodies..." he murmured with a minim smile, finishing the short ride towards the village gates in silence while the children sang and danced around them.

"Ichigo, it's good to see you, lad."

Ichigo jumped off the cart and walked up to the large, black bearded man that walked up to him with a group of villagers in tow. He had that rugged look of a man who'd worked his whole life on a boat, the large arms and the deeply tanned skin being proof of his fisherman's life.

"Village Master Joni," Ichigo greeted him, slapping their forearms together and grabbing hold of each other's arm. "It's good to see you!"

"Looks like you didn't come alone this time," Joni commented in his deep, rumbling voice, letting go of him and walking up to the cart where Orihime was preparing to descend. "Here let me help you!"

She watched him reach out for her and she smiled back uneasily when she placed her hands on his shoulders and he lifted her up from the cart by her hips with a merry laugh. "Oh!"

"Light as a feather, this one!" Joni chuckled, placing her on the ground. "There you go, miss," he then told her in a cordial whisper and a comical courtsy. "What's your name?"

"Thank you," Orihime smiled, looking up at Ichigo with an amused chuckle. "I'm Orihime."

"Oho!" Joni exclaimed, making her giggle. "What an usual name! Where are you from?"

"Errr-"

"She's from a remote island near the coast of Vertiblis," Ichigo intervened, walking up to them casually and smiling at Orihime, who silently sighed in relief. "She survived a shipwreck a few months ago and has been staying with us ever since."

"Oh, my dear child," a middle aged woman with light blonde hair said, walking up to her and taking her hands in hers. "Did you leave your family in Vertiblis?"

Orihime lowered her head sadly and shook her head. "My family perished along with our ship. Ichigo and his family took me in when I had no where else to go."

"It pains me to hear that," Joni commented with a mournful expression. "The Sea Goddess gives and takes… As mortals, we are perpetually at her mercy. May your kin have found solace in her watery embrace. From water we are born and to water we shall return."

"From water we are born and to water we shall return," All the gathered villagers echoed monotonously, each of them lowering their heads and placing a hand against their chest ceremoniously.

Orihime closed her eyes and lowered her head again out of respect for their beliefs, lifting her head afterwards to meet Ichigo's small pleased smile and feeling her cheeks grow warmer again. She quickly pulled her hood over her head and feigned being cold instead.

Ichigo tilted his head to the side in silent wonder when no glow appeared on her skin, making a mental note to ask her about it later. He then looked around the village market place they were standing in, only then noticing the colorful ribbons of fabric and sea shelves that decorated the houses, the message posts and the docks behind the houses by the sea. The many stands had delectable food presented on them and the air carried the sweet aroma of braised fish and fresh mead. "Did you have a party?"

"We are celebrating the birth of the sea Goddess," one of the children informed him, taking him by a hand and pointing at the decorations and the open air cooking stand by the village's tavern. "And we'll be giving her offerings for another favorable catch. We're having a party tonight, are you and Orihime staying?"

Orihime looked down at the fifteen or so children that suddenly converged around her, chiming in to the request of their friend. "Oh... well," she whispered, unsure of what to say. "I don't know, are we...?" she asked Ichigo, knowing that he wanted to get to his family by noon tomorrow.

Ichigo smirked at her amusedly and shrugged, figuring that they could both use some time for rest and recreation. "How can we say no to a party?"

The children erupted with acclamations and the next moment he was being carted away by the young men of the village towards the fishing docks while Orihime was being whisked away by a group of excited women towards the local tavern. She could feel his worried gaze on her so she smiled reassuringly at him, silently telling him that she would be fine.

They spent the rest of the day apart while the villagers took care of them and requested their aid with various chores in preparation to the Goddess Offering Ritual that would take place later that evening.

By the time the sun begun to set on the horizon, the central market place had been turned into a festive dance floor circle with a big bonfire in its middle and many low seats around it. The straw raft the women had spent the afternoon making was being carried to the rocky beach, ready to be laden with food, tokens and weapons made by the men as offering for the Goddess of the Sea.

When he laid his eyes on her again for the first time since they'd been separated, he couldn't help the mesmerized smile that grew on his lips. She was dressed, like the women of the village, in a long, dark blue linen, sleeveless wrap dress held together by a gold colored leather sash around her waist. A golden, twisted headband adorned her head and her long hair had been braided and worked around it in a traditional style, while in her arms she was carrying a basket with food.

The men watched from their sitting position in the sand how the singing procession of women placed their offerings on the raft one by one before the young children of the village did the same with handmade toys, trinkets and tokens.

After finally the smithed weapons of the day were placed on the raft, Joni took word and started the ceremony, calling upon the Sea Goddess to be merciful and generous with them for another year and thanking her for having taken such good care of his village during the last. He also sent a special attention for Orihime, praying to the Goddess to look after her family in the next world before they sent the raft onto the sea with music and song.

Ichigo saw Orihime wipe away a tear at Joni's moving words, knowing that it wasn't played and that her tears were sincere. After everything she'd never chosen to tell him, he had figured out that something horrible had happened to her high-born family and that she'd been chased away from her world. The reasons still eluded him however, since she wasn't talking about it, but just watching her now filled her with a need to protect her and stand by her.

He hadn't had the dream since he'd met her and it only deepened his belief that she was the key to unlocking the reason why he had them in the first place.

Also, they really needed to figure out why her skin reacted to his the way it did and why she had such an immense effect on him when he didn't really know who she was.

It didn't make sense, and yet it felt perfectly normal. Something inside of him recognised her as someone of utmost importance to him and it was so easy to go with that feeling, even when everything he knew screamed that it was impossible to feel so strongly about a stranger.

So then why did his heart sing with joy when he heard her laugh, why did he watch her now and long for her like he would die if he couldn't be with her?

How was it possible that he'd already lost his heart to her in such a short time?

"Try the fish."

He looked up at her, now that a few hours had passed and they were all sitting around the bonfire in the centre village. He reached out for the wooden plate she offered him and watched her sit down next to him to watch the men and the women dancing to the percussions of the village musicians.

"Did you make it?" he asked her, reaching with his fingers for a large piece of the fish and placing it into his mouth. "Wow, this is really good!"

"I didn't make it," she confessed with a grin. "There wouldn't have been a lot left of the fish if I had… I'm used to having my food made for me. I never learned how to make it."

Ichigo chuckled and nodded in understanding, turning his head to look at the dancing children. "I'm sure the women didn't mind it… you look and act like a noble, with your pale skin, fair hair and -mostly- sophisticated mannerisms, so I think they figured that you couldn't cook."

Orihime looked into her lap with a small smile. "With everything that happened today, I didn't get a chance to thank you for providing me with a cover story…"

He shook his head and ate some more of the fish. "It would seem that what I came up with isn't that far from the truth… I saw you crying at the beach ceremony."

"Yeah," she whispered back, eyes shining with the dancing flames in front of them. "I lost my parents when I was very young…" she began, making him put the plate with the fish aside to listen to her story.

He sucked his fingers clean and took out a piece of cloth from his back pocket to dry his hands. "I'm very sorry to hear that."

Orihime took a shaky breath and nodded, closing her eyes. "For the longest time it was only me and my brother… but he too, died," her voice broke and she fought against the tears that threatened to spill. "Not so long ago… He was all I had left…"

Ichigo moved onto his knees and took her in his arms, resting the side of his head against hers with a small consoling smile when she hesitantly placed her arms around him and started to sob. "I'm so sorry, Orihime…"

She nodded over his shoulder and closed her eyes with sniffle, snuggling closer to him in search of comfort. "I've been alone for what seems ages now and I'm so tired of feeling scared and lonely all the time… I was ready to give up when I landed in this world," she whispered, moving out of their embrace and wiping away her tears. "I asked Oblivium to let me die, but instead… he brought me to you…"

"Maybe…" he began, reaching for her face with his right hand hesitantly before smiling when she placed her hand against his and brought it to her face without any side effects. "Maybe he deemed you not done yet in this life…"

"Yes," she told him, lifting her amber eyes to his beseechingly. "I don't know why, but I feel like…"

Ichigo gulped and nodded in understanding, bringing his face closer to hers slowly. "Like this was meant to be…?"

Orihime blinked and smiled gently, focusing her gaze on his lips now as they grew ever closer.

"Orihime! Come dance with us!"

They both suddenly snapped out of the daze they were caught in and pulled apart, with furious blushes on their faces.

"Coming!" Orihime called back to Joni's wife, standing up with a small smile that didn't go unnoticed to the young hunter. "It's time for the ceremonial dance. Will you watch?"

He nodded and watched her go take her position in the dance formation with the other women, grinning when she winked at him and started to move her hips to the sound of the awakening flute and the growing drum beats of the next song.

"She's a fine choice, son."

Ichigo looked up behind him and saw Joni take place where Orihime had sat moments before. "Does your father know?"

"I haven't told him yet," Ichigo replied with a small smile. "This is new, I don't want to rush anything."

The village master nodded with a grin. "She's kind, generous and beautiful. You better be careful that some other man doesn't realize how lucky you are."

"I won't let that happen…" he assured himself more than him.

Joni then slapped him on his shoulder rather harshly, making the youngster cough a little. "It'll be a relief for your father anyhow, he can finally rest easy now that his oldest has finally made a choice. I must admit that we all had our doubts there for a moment, son."

Ichigo blushed in embarrassment and scowled a little, reaching for his goblet of mead. "T-thanks…?"

"Either way, I just came to thank you for the venison you shared with us, it is much appreciated like always. We will send you home with our freshest catch tomorrow. We've already checked and prepared your cart, fed your horse and arranged a room for the both of you at the tavern," Joni announced, standing back up again. "If I don't see you before tomorrow morning, send your father my best regards! And ah… the road is still long, so better not make it too late tonight, eh?" he added meaningfully, winking with a wiggle of his brows before walking off and leaving Ichigo to choke on his drink.

"I-I will send my father your regards…" Ichigo smirked back uneasily and then turned to look at the dancing women and their sensual dance. He fell into silence as he watched her move to the beat, clearly enjoying the music as she moved nearly effortlessly through all the different stances with an enchanting grace. Their eyes would meet from time to time and he'd see a passion in her depths only matched by her spirited dancing, making his throat go dry and his heart beat in time with the fevered percussions of the song, leaving him breathless by the time the last drum note echoed into the night.

He stood when he saw her quickly slip away from the group of women towards the beach and followed her down the moonlit rocky path north of the village, finding her with her naked feet in the water, staring at the half moon standing low above the glistening, nocturnal horizon.

"You looked amazing out there…"

The few loose strands of her long hair were playing in the soft breeze when she turned around to face him. "Thank you…" she replied softly, pulling the stray strands of her hair behind both her ears. "That dance resembles one dedicated to the Ancient Euyrum Tra'ak."

He came to stand next to her and looked at the calm ocean ahead of them. "That's a strange coincidence… The Goddess name is-"

"Euyru…" Orihime whispered back with a chuckle. "It's not a coincidence when you think of our shared history and what I told you. The Daemlin and the Tra'ak have long been considered to be Gods by many a people. And Euyrum means 'water' in Dragon tongue."

"Whoa…" he commented, turning to face her again and reaching for her left hand, smirking when she opened it and intertwined their fingers silently. "We're more connected than anyone ever thought…"

"This is insane…" she told him quietly, a blush covering her cheeks again.

The music from the party echoed over the beach and her rolling waves.

He watched her for a few moments and smiled. "How come you're not glowing right now?"

Orihime smiled to herself. "I figured it out… and I can keep it under control now."

"How…?" he wondered, voice soft. He took a step closer to her and placed a finger underneath her chin so she'd look at him. "How did you figure it out?"

She lifted her glowing eyes up to his and looked at him with nothing but vulnerable sincerity. "By admitting to myself that… I like you… a lot..."

Ichigo's lips curled into a smile and he brought the hand that had been resting underneath her chin up to play his fingertips against the soft skin of her right cheekbone, watching, endeared, how she closed her eyes and leant into his touch as he cupped her face tenderly. "Well you're right about one thing…" he told her, his eyes reflecting the anticipation he saw in hers. Her small hands came to rest on his waist and he shivered at the intimate touch, smiling lovingly at her. "This _is_ insane…" he whispered, scant seconds before he pulled her face to his slowly with both hands and connected their lips in a kiss that resounded throughout the ages.

* * *

_**Thank you so much for the ongoing support for this story!**_

_**For those interested, I had a portrait of demon!Orihime made for this story, you can either find it on my tumblr, on my Deviant Art account or on my official Facebook page!**_

_**-MistressBlaque-**_


	6. Chapter 6

**_Chapter 6_**

* * *

By first light the next morning he awoke, blinking sleepily as he tried to reorient himself in time and space, his head feeling heavy and his mind foggy. His memories of the night before quickly returned when something warm and soft snuggled closer to him in his bed in the attic of Nakar's Tavern. He looked down at the head of golden brown hair pressed against his chest and smiled warmly, wrapping his arms closer around her petite form underneath the comfortable quilt in the cool of that quiet and pale morning.

Last night they'd kissed each other until they both lacked breath, the need they felt for one another growing so strongly that it had been hard not to consummate it.

He had wanted her, right in that moment that their lips connected and she'd started to glow again, the iridescent colors playing underneath her skin in the dark of the night. All he'd been able to think about was how much he wanted her and how her beauty made him need her in ways he'd only ever heard about. He managed to keep his urges under control out of respect for her, finding himself surprised when she admitted to not knowing men before him.

Therefore, they decided to promise each other to wait until they both felt the time was right to take things further. After all, the facts still remained that they only met three days ago and that there was still much that they did not know about one another even if the attraction they felt towards each other was palpable, mysterious and nearly irresistible.

And even now, as he played his fingers through her soft hair, he had to admit that waking up with her in his arms felt like the most natural thing in the world to him and he vowed that she would always be able to return in his arms, no matter what.

Ichigo pressed his lips on the top of her head lovingly and closed his eyes, breathed in her subtle, yet sweet scent and then felt himself drifting off to sleep once more.

* * *

_"You have to run!"_

_Her hand was trembling in his as she tried to keep up with his pace, her frantic panting echoing around the maze of corridors they were currently sprinting through._

_"They're coming!" she gasped quietly, now descending a set of rewinding stairs behind him._

_They arrived in a large ingress that led to a sole door ahead and her airy, gray dress was billowing behind her from the cold air that pushed through the wooden door._

_"Ner'amal!" she cried when the door led them to a sheltered and open belvedere between the turrets of the castle with no other way to go than into the abyss below. "We're trapped…" she whispered, her hair flailing around her because of the stormy weather._

_He gritted his teeth at their dire situation and quickly closed the door and placed its barricade before it. "Come," he told her, leading her to the edge of the platform. "I'm afraid that there is no other option left to us…" he said, carefully looking into the eddying mass of dark clouds below. "I choose to be with you forever."_

_She looked into his eyes, the tears she shed for him blown away by the whipping wind. "Forever," she echoed, smiling solemnly when their joined hands made her skin glow in many iridescent colors._

_"Roma'aryu," he whispered to her, returning her smile._

_She nodded, blinking through her tears. "Udest roma'ar."_

_By the time their pursuers managed to force their way through the locked door, there was no trace of either of them left._

* * *

"Wake up. Ichigo, wake up."

He opened his eyes with a gasp and found her golden eyes on him, staring at him worriedly.

"Orihime."

She took his sweaty face in her hands, her thumbs caressing his face consolingly. "You were thrashing in your sleep," she whispered, looking him over.

"My dream…" he breathed, squeezing his eyes shut and tilting his head back. "It changed…"

"What do you mean…?" Orihime wondered, sitting back so he could sit up.

"It felt so real… much more so than usual," he said, shaking his head when the images flashed through his mind again. "Oh God…" he murmured, still overcome with the vivid desperation he'd felt in the dream.

"You're okay…" she consoled him, taking him in her arms. "You're safe here with me."

Ichigo closed his eyes when his head found comfort against her chest, sighing softly in relief when her hands gently caressed his hair. "Ner'amal…" he murmured, remembering the words of his nightmare. "Roma'aryu… udest roma'ar…"

Orihime gasped and retreated from the embrace to look at him, eyes growing soft when they met his. "Those words…?"

"What do they mean?" he asked her, frowning when a look of realization crossed her features. "Orihime…?"

"'Ner'amal' means 'My love' or if literally translated; 'The one promised to me'," she said with a forlorn smile. "'Roma'aryu' and 'udest roma'ar'…" she fell silent and closed her eyes, blushing a little.

"'I love you'," he deduced, smiling.

"And its reply; 'You're the one I love'," she whispered, looking up to him again. "Or 'I love you, too'."

They shared an abashed chuckle before Ichigo thought about it for a moment, taking the time to put what he'd learned into context. "We were running away from pursuers… he told her. "I don't know why… we got cornered on some sort of terrace with beyond it a precipice… I couldn't save you, there was no way out…" He lifted his head and looked at her pleadingly. "But we were determined to stay together, no matter what…"

She only looked at him quietly as she felt her tears well up in her eyes.

"I told you 'Roma'aryu'," he continued, wiping away the tear that rolled down her cheek. "And you told me…"

"Udest Roma'ar," she finished, sniffling and leaning into his touch. "Oblivium Tra'ak... I saw it too…"

He frowned, wondering if she meant that she'd somehow used her Magick to see what he'd seen or something. "What do you mean?"

"Yesterday… when my skin first lit up when you touched me at the cottage," she began, taking a shaky breath. "I saw it… but I couldn't make sense of it... I still can't, but everything you say you dreamt about... this dream and the first one… I saw it…"

"Do you think…" he murmured, reaching up to the side of her neck and pulling back her long strands of hair behind her left shoulder. "That it could be a vision of the future…? I felt like our bond had grown deeper in this dream, like we truly knew each other."

She shook her head hopelessly and shrugged, biting her trembling lips. "I don't have premonitions... I don't know what either dreams mean, but if this is the future–"

"No," he whispered back. "I'm not going to let that happen. If this is our future… you could… could simply fly away."

Orihime drew her eyebrows together in disbelief, more tears rolling down her beautiful face. "If this is our future," she began, lips trembling harder as her emotions grew unchecked within because of his bittersweet sentiment. "What makes you think that I would choose to leave you behind to die alone?"

"Orihime…" he whispered, startled.

"I'm not confessing to what we said to each other in the dream," she clarified, wiping away her tears with trembling hands. "But this bond that I feel between us... it keeps growing with each kiss and touch we share. It feels predestined, almost..." She bit her lower lip and averted her eyes, with a self-deprecating chuckle. "And I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up-"

"Falling in love," he whispered breathlessly, watching her close her eyes and nod.

"The thought of losing you now already fills me with anxiety..." she confessed, wrapping her arms around herself, sniffling. "So don't say stuff like that... ever..."

Ichigo blinked silently and then grinned softly. "I like this Orihime better," he said, wiping away her tears with the back of his right hand fingers "The honest one, as opposed to the 'princess'."

She chuckled again and moved in to kiss him on his lips. "The 'princess' is still part of who I am though... I- was raised like that."

"I know and I can tell," he replied, rubbing the tips of their noses together. "But she didn't stop me from losing my heart to you anyway," he continued throatily, looking up at her amorously.

She blushed and closed her eyes, smiling bashfully. "Does that make you crazy or just an infatuated fool...?" she wondered, grinning.

"A little bit of both, I'm afraid," he grinned back. "I think I fell in love with you whilst dreaming of you for years..."

Their eyes met again and she found nothing but admiration in them. "Ichigo..." she uttered breathlessly, his confession making her glow again.

"This is all pretty insane, but I can't help what I feel every time I look at your infatuating and mesmerizing beauty..." he said, making her giggle as they lay back onto the bed together and faced each other. "Take your time, figuring it out... I'll be waiting for you when you get there..."

She sighed at the pleasure that coursed through her at those words, the colors underneath her skin dancing more vividly with each heartbeat. Orihime kissed him again, wanting to convey her happiness and the passion she felt for this Human that she barely knew, but who was already conquering her heart one quivering breath at a time.

"So what are you going to tell your father?" she whispered, nuzzling his throat a few moments after and snuggling closer in his embrace.

"We'll figure something out, I'm not too worried," he told her reassuringly, resting his chin on the top of her head and running his right hand up and down her naked arm.

"What if your family isn't willing to let you come with me on my quest?" Orihime then said, bracing herself on her right arm so she could look at him now, her expression concerned again.

"I'm not worried," he simply stated once more, shaking his head with a calm smile. "I'm coming with you, whether they like it or not."

He cupped her face and she kissed his thumb when it played against her lips, looked him in the eyes and found all the confidence and affection she needed to inspire her assurance. She bit her lower lip and shook her head, still in disbelief of how much pull he had on her already and kissed him again, before pulling back with a gasp when she realized she'd been kissing him with tongue, not knowing if it was something Humans did, as well. "I'm sorry," she panted, startled, and bringing her hand to her mouth.

Ichigo never said anything and just pulled her back to him for a deep kiss this time, passing his tongue over hers carefully and moaning in time with her at the sparks that went down his spine. "Ner'amal..." he whispered in between hasty kisses, barely giving her the time to catch her breath between her beseeching moans.

"Oblivium Tra'ak..." she eventually whined as she pushed him away from her with trembling hands, breaking the kiss while shaking her head again, making him laugh. "Whoa..."

He smiled lovingly at her and held her closer, waiting for her eyes that were turned away in abashment to settle back on him again. He was taking slow, steadying breaths himself to calm his body down. "What a kiss..." he murmured then, grinning at her deepening blush and giggle.

Orihime sighed contently, taking a moment to regain control over her body and the the ever present iridescence. "Ner'amal," she then whispered, raising her glistening amber eyes up to his deep chocolate ones. "You called me Ner'amal."

"Because that's what I believe that you are, with all of my heart," he simply stated, watching tears fill her eyes again. "You're the woman of my dreams."

She sniffled and let him kiss her on her forehead. "Ner'amal..." she whispered back, now in his embrace again. "My one, true, love..."

Another smile grew on her features when his lips landed on her head, but her guilty stare that followed went unnoticed, her small hands holding on to his tunic just a bit tighter, the disquiet she felt two nights before returning with a vengeance.

The cart was fully loaded and ready for departure a few hours later.

"Return to us soon, Ichigo, Orihime!"

"Come play with us soon, Orihime!"

"We'll miss you, Nenya!"

The wolfsdog barked happily in the back of the cart, making the youngest children jump in excitement.

Orihime laughed and waved at the children and villagers gathering around them when the wooden gate to the village slowly opened for them. "Thank you for your hospitality everyone!" she told them, standing up from the driver's bench she shared with Ichigo, bowing and waving at all of those present. "Thank you so much."

"Marry that girl, Ichigo!"

"Make us babies!"

Everyone laughed at that last one and Ichigo smiled up at Orihime, both blushing when she sat back down with a laugh. "Send my regards to Joni, Sola," he told the Village Master's wife when she handed him a basket with road food. "Thank you for everything, we had a great time."

"Take care of him, Orihime," Sola told her tenderly, taking the hand she stretched out to the older woman. "And you take care of her, Ichigo. You're such a lovely couple. Come by anytime, we'll be waiting."

"I will miss you, Ma Sola. Thank you," Orihime whispered with an affectionate smile.

"May the Goddess guide and protect you, children," she said, taking a step back now so they could get going.

They both nodded solemnly and then Ichigo tapped the reins on Andels' back, urging the steed on and through the gates while everyone called out to them with well wishes.

"Thank you for this," Orihime whispered once the gates of village closed behind them again. "I didn't realize how much I needed to be among people again."

Ichigo smiled and nodded. "They are good people…"

She sat back and sighed, turning to look at the glittering ocean underneath the morning sun. "That must be Master Joni over there," she commented, pointing at a group of small boats floating close together in the sea.

"Yeah," he agreed after having glanced in the direction she was pointing. "He and my dad are actually childhood friends."

"They are…?" she said, looking into the basket Sola had given them that now rested between them on the bench while Ichigo made a confirming sound. "What's the name of your village?"

"Nesba," he answered, leading his horse to the path on their right when they reached the fork in the road and the waypoint indicating the direction of his village. He then glanced her way and smirked amusedly. "You're eating again?"

"I've noticed that having these things appear on my skin not only give my healing abilities a boost, but they take up a lot of my energy as well! I get so hungry afterwards…" she said, voice muffled because she had a freshly baked bread bun caught between her teeth while her hands continued to go through the basket's contents. "Ooh, she gave us some more of that braised fish!"

"Ooh, nice!" he agreed. "Keep that for later, will you?" Ichigo then asked, grinning at her discontent whine. "By the way, seen as how you did a whole lot of glowing last night and this morning… how is your right wing doing?"

"We'll I've been in disguise ever since we left The Crestfallen Woods yesterday morning," she replied looking around them. Nakar was already far behind them by the coast and the road ahead took them back up the vegetated cliff with the ocean on the right and woods on their left. "And I feel a lot better..." She shook her head and shimmied her shoulders as if she was shaking off clothes and he watched, surprised how her appearance changed and her horns appeared, her wings fluttered into existence and her tail coiled neatly in her lap. "There's no more pain…" she said breathlessly with a hand on her right shoulder. "I can…" she tentatively stretched both her wings and smiled happily. "It still feels a bit stiff, but it's healed!"

"That's amazing!" Ichigo said, genuinely excited for her. "Can you fly?" he wondered, making his horse stop.

"There's only one way to find out."

She stood with a playful grin and got off the cart to run towards the edge of the cliff overlooking the sea.

"Are you crazy?!" he said, getting off the cart himself once he realized what she was about to do. "Don't do it!"

Orihime gave him an annoyed stare as she turned around to face him. Her long hair played with the potent ocean wind and she pulled some of it out of her face as she grinned, winked and then let herself fall down backwards.

"Orihime!" he cried and Nenya barked in alert. Ichigo gritted his teeth in worry and hurried towards the edge with his heart beating in his throat with dread. He looked down from the spot she'd let herself fall from a few moments ago, but couldn't see anything but the calm blue waters lazily pushing against the rocks below. "Where-?" he stopped when he suddenly saw what seemed like hair edge into his field of vision from above. "Huh..?" He looked up and found her floating in the air above him, slowly coming down from one of her portals -with her skirt and hair seemingly unaffected by gravity- until her grinning face was on his level and she pulled it to her to share a playful kiss on his parted lips.

"You're crazy," he whispered to her, shaking his head accusingly and smiling .

"You need to stop making assumptions little hunter," she told him, making him chuckle. "I'm not going anywhere without you."

Ichigo shook his head in awe of her as his heart overflowed with fondness and his lips kissed hers again with the seagulls cawing soothingly overhead.

* * *

**_Oh Gosh, thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a nice comment on the previous chapter. I'm very happy this piece resonates with so many of you!_**

**_Please take the time to check out my Deviant Art to see the portrait of demon!Orihime the talented ChubyMi made for me! The link is in my Bio._**

**_Onto the next one!_**

**_-MistressBlaque-_**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7**_

* * *

"Last one in the water is a stinky turtuka'al!"

They'd chosen to take an hour off for lunch and to freshen up now that the weather had gotten considerably warmer and that they were nearing Nesba. He'd guided them to a secluded gorge he knew in the Southern Waking Woods, with a clear pool of water and an enchanting waterfall he was certain she would love. She'd become a part of his world now and he wanted to show her as much of it as he could.

"I don't even know what that is!" Ichigo called back, setting the wooden bucket that he'd filled with water in front of Andels so the horse could quench its thirst by the entrance of the gorge.

Orihime whipped her head to the side so her bangs would move out of her face and she grinned at him over her shoulder, holding the basket of food in both hands as she walked down the winding path through the tree ferns towards the pool. "It's stinky, that's what it is!" she replied back smugly, chuckling amusedly when Nenya barked in agreement next to her.

Ichigo pursed his lips in played annoyance and patted his horse soothingly on the side of his neck. "Subtlety is not one of your fortes, is it?" he murmured, picking up his rolled up cloak from the back of the cart so they could use it to place it on the ground for them to sit on later.

"I heard that!"

He jumped slightly and turned to see where she stood to have heard him say those words. She was standing at least a 100 meters away from him…

"I tell it like I smell them!" she joked back before turning her face towards the gorgeous scene that unfolded before her. It was like they'd entered a completely new, secret little world. The waterfall ahead made the water churn on the opposite side of the small beach she now stood on, the cascading water falling down the vegetated cliff high above them. Small plants and wild, colourful flowers decorated the moist rocky walls enclosing the bright blue water in a near perfect crescent shape. "It's so beautiful and peaceful here… wow." She chuckled happily and hurried to the edge of the glistening water, dying to take off the leather boots of her huntress ensemble so she could feel the moist ground and the small rolling waves. "This place has so much Magickal potential."

He watched her move around hesitantly about the water and smirked, picked up the basket from where she'd left it in the sand behind her. "There's no one around," he pointed out, nimbly climbing on top of the rocky protrusion hanging over the water a ways to her left. He unfolded his cloak and placed it down with the basket on top of it. "Go ahead."

Orihime bit her lower lip and looked at him with a small grin. "Okay…" she purred, rolling her head over her shoulders and shaking off her disguise with a happy giggle. "Oh… finally!" she sighed, spreading her wings when they appeared and stretching out lazily, now wearing her revealing Tra'aklin attire again. The sun's warmth on her skin felt heavenly and she couldn't wait to dive into the refreshing water. She reached for the clip that held her leather skirt together on her right hip, unhooked it and let it fall onto ground. She was now clad in nothing but her dark string drawers and her leather bandeau top. "Are you going to keep staring at me, or are you going to join me in the water?" she asked, rolling her eyes his way to smirk at him still standing on his rock. "Take off your clothes, mister hunter…"

Ichigo chuckled and then thought about it for a moment before biting his lower lip and lifting his smelly tunic over his well-defined, muscular torso and chest. He threw the garment to the side on the rocky surface and shrugged smugly. "Better…?"

Orihime took a small shaky breath at the sight of his deliciously manly appearance and smirked with a shake of her head, pointing at his footwear. "Boots."

He chuckled, proceeded to taking his shoes off and then made a startled movement when she unexpectedly stood in front of him with a grin. "You're fast," he breathed, watching her wings fold themselves on her back again.

She cocked her head to the side as her eyes went over his denuded appearance. "Or maybe you're just slow," she replied, closing her eyes, breathing in his scent and making an approving guttural sound.

"I thought I smelled bad…?" Ichigo whispered, observing her quietly while she continued to smell him.

"Your clothes did," she corrected him, running her right hand up his left arm and smiling at him. "The way you smell is what makes you so attractive to me… and in this form I can appreciate it so much more…"

"So Tra'aklin have a well-developed sense of smell…?" he asked, touching his right hand fingers to her left horn inquisitively, admiring the black and golden texture of it.

"And hearing and sight…" she purred and moaned, leaning into his touch with a blush and a full body shiver. "But the way someone smells… conveys… so much… about who they are…"

"And here I thought you fell for my looks…" he murmured absentmindedly, before a surprised smile grew on his features at the sight of her, because it would seem that he'd just discovered one of her pleasure spots. "You like that…?"

Orihime opened heavy lidded amber eyes and let the skin by her left temple glimmer in answer. "I would hold on to that knowledge, if I were you…" she then said, making him raise an eyebrow in approval. "Now, how about those pants?"

He laughed and gave her a coy smile. "How unbecoming of a lady to ask this of a decent man!"

It was her turn to laugh and she guided the smooth tip of her tail to caress the side of his face lovingly. "I am no lady," she whispered softly, baring her short, pointy fangs to him through her ever widening grin. "I'm Tra'aklin," she announced with her chin held high and one hand on her right hip. "And I take what I want, when I want it, Human."

"Is that so?" he replied throatily, sliding his right hand behind her neck and pulling her to him, grinning at her small gasp when she fell against him. "And what if I did the same? What if I just took what I wanted…?"

"If you were King, that'd be your right," she whispered breathlessly, staring at his lips. "But you're no King."

He looked at her silently for a fleeting moment and then kissed her deeply without warning, effectively taking what he wanted. "And now?"

She was panting when he released her and she took a few steps to find her balance again, grinning to herself when he moved with her and into the position she wanted him in. "Still not a King…!" she whispered before pushing him hard enough for him to tumble into the deep water below the floating rock.

She giggled heartedly and used her wings to float down to the cerulean surface of the water he'd broken through, only laughing harder when he came back up for air looking like a drowned, orange haired rat.

"I'll show you who's King!" he growled, throwing both his hands out to her ankles and pulling her down with him while she shrieked and fell into the water, going under with him holding her down.

She was grinning when his lips landed on hers again under water, using her wings to keep them submerged and twirling around in the blue while their kiss and breath lasted.

"Do you ever dream of being a King…?" she asked him later, now floating on the surface of the pool with her wings spread wide, her eyes following a small flock of birds chasing each other in and out of the trees standing on top of the cliff above them. The scene felt eerily familiar and made her anxiety for what could come flare up again. "Do you ever dream… of becoming more than a hunter…? To fight against what other people have planned for you…?"

He swam up to her side and she let his hands go around her waist so she could face him again, her arms now resting on his shoulders. "All the time…" he told her, closing his eyes when she pulled away a few strands of his wet hair out of his face. "I don't need to be King per se, but I want to believe that I can become more than a simple hunter… if the choice comes up."

She made a consenting sound and fell quiet for a moment, her eyes resting on the spot where she heard his heart beating softly. "Can I tell you something?"

He smiled and pressed his lips against her forehead. "Can I stop you?"

Orihime smirked and placed her right palm on his chest, atop of his heart. "You have the heart of a King. Courageous, compassionate and kind. A Queen wouldn't find a better match than you, as her King."

His smile widened itself a little. "Then this Kingly heart chooses you as its Queen."

She gasped at that and looked up into his trusting eyes, suddenly unable to find the reassurance she always found in them. "I'm… I'm Tra'aklin…" she whispered in dismay with a shake of her head. "I'm not… Wouldn't it be easier for you-"

"Hey, stop that…" Ichigo told her, having sensed her sudden morose mood. "I know you've put up a brave front for the past few days and I get that you're scared. But this… between us, is real and what I want."

"I didn't want to worry you… much less involve you in all of this..." she whimpered, her lips trembling now. "You make me so happy, happier than I've been in years and I thought I could forget everything that happened just by being with you. But this morning, after you told me about your dream… the dread that I felt that first night we connected returned and I've been fearing the worst ever since."

"You're scared that someone has followed you here," he said, watching her nod nervously. "Are you ready to tell me why those people would be after you?"

"Because…" she whispered in a small voice, her petite body now trembling in his hold. "They want to kill me."

"What? Who?" he demanded softly, already knowing that he'd do whatever in his power to keep those people from laying a finger on her. "Why do they want to kill you?"

Orihime squeezed her eyes shut in fear. "Vritri Tra'ak… The Dragonkin Magistrates…" she whispered timidly. "I've been sentenced to die…"

"Why?" he asked again, his expression only growing more grave. "What do they think you've done?"

She turned around and shook her head, refusing to answer more. "I can't," she said, swimming to the shore where her skirt still lay in the sand. "I've told you too much already…"

He hurried after her and grabbed hold of her shoulders when they could both stand on the bottom of the pool, turning her around with the water raised to their waists. "You haven't told me enough. I'm with you in this, I thought I told you this already Orihime!" he breathed, needing for her to understand that he wanted to be with her, no matter what and no matter how crazy it all seemed and sounded. "You wouldn't leave me to die, you told me so this morning. Do you think I would sit idly by and watch those Freedree Tra'ak guys take you away from me so they can kill you?"

A small smile crossed her features at his wrong pronunciation while tears rolled down her cheeks because of his heartfelt words. "Vritri Tra'ak…" she still corrected him.

"Whatever!" he muttered back, swallowing a breath as he continued to try and catch his breath, unable to keep from smiling when she giggled tearfully with a shake of her head. "You're Ner'amal," he continued, expression serious again as he blinked away the droplets of water that rolled into his eyes. "Wherever you go, I go… you're meant to be with me, I can feel it as certain as you are standing here right in front of me! And I know you… Something in me recognizes you… and something in you recognizes me too. You can't hide or deny it."

And as if on cue, the skin on her chest lit up with sparks of opalesque colors dancing up and over her shoulders and down her back and all over her fluttering wings. "Ichigo," she sighed pleadingly, her teary eyes longing for the hope and leniency his words promised.

"I can't let go of you now, so please… don't let go of me," he told her, his own throat now heavy with held back grief for her.

A tear rolled out of her right eye as moments of silence passed between them and they continued to stare at each other wordlessly.

"I killed my brother."

His shortness of breath died out in the aftermath of her words. "I don't believe that," was all he said, his expression deadly calm.

Her stoic face turned sorrowful and she fell into his arms with deep, heart wrenching sobs of relief. "I don't want to die…" she cried, holding on to him tightly. "Not anymore… Oh Oblivium Tra'ak... I want to live! With you…!"

"I won't let anyone hurt you, I give you my word," he promised, pressing his lips against the crown of her head and holding her close, letting the soothing sound of the waterfall subdue the tragic notes of her wailing, never noticing the double pairs of eyes watching them from the cliff above before disappearing into the bushes.

"They'll love you."

Nesba was situated to the south of the Waking Woods, past the Nesbian Highlands and snugly settled at the foot of Mount Mardent further south. It was a modest village of farmers and hunters and a frequent rest stop for travelers and pelgrims on their way to the Shrine of the Lost God halfway up the mountain.

By the time they arrived at the cobblestone bridge that brought them into Ichigo's home village, the afternoon was almost over and the evening had begun to set in.

She'd been quiet ever since they left the gorge and Ichigo felt for her, wanting nothing more than for her to feel safe and have a warm place to rest and put aside her worries. He didn't dismiss her anguish, he believed her when she told him that the threat against and around her were very real, but he also believed that they could overcome anything, no matter how bad, as long as he had her by her side.

Orihime pouted and nervously smoothed down her hair, that she'd braided into an over the shoulder braid, with both her hands. She then looked her human disguise over anxiously. "Are you sure?"

They both watched Nenya run ahead to the farmstead by the side of the road and bark at the door of the main building.

"The people of Nakar adored you," he reasoned, making a reassuring face and grinning when the door of his house opened in the distance. "You'll do fine with my father and sisters, I'm certain of it."

"What if they find out that I'm not human…?" she whispered, watching how a petite woman with long brown hair and large brown eyes stepped out of the stone house and kneeled to hug Ichigo's wolfdog.

He smiled with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "They're not the kind of people who would hate you based on prejudice."

Orihime sat back and smiled to herself as he watched him wave at the girl standing by the opened door. "They helped raise you after all," she said. "And you took me in, knowing what I am."

"Yeah, but I'm mostly telling you to act normal because otherwise people will think we're getting married," Ichigo said with a scowl.

"I've noticed that a lot of people have been waiting for you to," Orihime laughed.

"Well, you and I know why I never settled. I was waiting for a certain someone," he replied, smirking handsomely at her before jumping off the cart with a wink when she gasped and blushed furiously. "Yuzu!" he called, running up to his sister and taking her in his arms.

"Finally! Welcome home!" Yuzu greeted, hugging him tightly before looking him over for wounds or injuries. "You were gone longer than you promised!" she then chastised once she was certain he was okay. "A whole week!"

"I'm sorry, please forgive me," he told her, grinning widely. "Are Karin and dad around?"

"No, they're not," Yuzu answered, now turning her attention to the pretty girl with the waist length golden brown hair who jumped down the cart. "Dad should be back in a few hours from shepherding the sheep in the highlands and Karin will be back from the cornfields in a few." She looked up at her brother questioningly then, awaiting an explanation for the girl he'd brought home.

"Yuzu," Ichigo said, walking up to Orihime and reaching out a hand for her that she took. "This is Orihime, she's a good friend and a fellow hunter I've met a few times now."

"It's so nice to finally meet you," Orihime greeted Yuzu, taking both her hands in hers with a sincere smile. "Ichigo has told me so much about you, Yuzu."

The younger girl had tears welling up in her eyes as she continued to stare at Orihime, putting her ill at ease.

Orihime looked up at Ichigo with an unsure smile. "Err, was it something I said–?"

"I'm just so happy and relieved!" Yuzu exclaimed, pulling the Tra'aklin into an unexpected hug. "And thank the Gods you're so pretty!"

"Hey, what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Ichigo protested, scowling at his sister who just ignored him and began to walk Orihime towards the house. He rolled his eyes with a grunt and got back on the cart to lead it to the stables at the rear of the house, never noticing the small red glyph that lit up on the right side of the wooden doorframe - just above the ground-, when Orihime walked into the house.

"Ichigo and I met a few times before, yes…" Orihime answered Yuzu a few moments later, letting her eyes go over the cozy and rustic surroundings she now found herself in. The main house had a large hall with a big table and six chairs in the middle. There was a sizeable fireplace with a handmade rug and two low chairs facing each other beyond it. To her left she saw the double wooden doors that seemed to lead into the kitchen and further, another door that led to the outside of the house and the small piece of land enclosed by a pen where they kept the poultry. Ahead of her next to the stone fireplace to the right were wooden stairs leading to the first floor and the private chambers she imagined were situated there. The walls of the house were decorated with animal furs, dried plants and handmade wooden cabinets containing little trinkets of small value. "I like your house… it feels so welcoming."

"Thank you! I do try!" Yuzu answered with a happy blush. "If I left it to the others, we'd have chickens and sheep roaming around the house in no time!" she then said, watching Orihime giggle before realizing that she was actually staring at her now, completely taken in by her appearance. "I'm sorry, where are my manners," she chuckled, pulling out a chair from under the table and carrying it to the fireplace where she placed it between the two low chairs. "Please, sit," Yuzu said, offering her one of the comfortable chairs. "I'll take the regular chair, you must be so very tired from your journey."

Orihime smiled gratefully at her and took a seat in the one to her left. "Ichigo made us rest enough on the way. Master Joni and Ma Sola have also sent their regards by the way."

"Oh he took you on the oceanic route! That's so romantic!" Yuzu sighed, clasping her hands together. "Did you stop by the Moongleam Gorge too?"

Orihime chuckled at the other girl's enthusiasm. "I don't know what it's called… But I think so?"

"Did you kiss? Are you thinking of marrying my brother…? Oh, you could live in the old Borgi Farmhouse on the other side of the village, have a baby… we'd be like sisters!"

"Err…" Orihime managed, feeling desperately overwhelmed by Ichigo's younger sister and yet very entertained by her endearing antics. She briefly wondered, as she watched her talk excitedly if this was what it was like to have a sister, a true female friend with whom she could exchange pleasantries without consequences…

"So where is she…?"

Both girls turned towards the entrance of the house, finding a girl with wavy, black shoulder length hair and a stern expression standing in the doorway.

"How was your day, Karin?" Yuzu greeted her sister, standing to help her with the two linen bags with groceries she'd returned with. "Oh, you brought back some parsnip, thank you! I can make a vegetable soup with the meat Ichigo brought back."

"Yeah, it cost a bit more than expected though, sis," Karin answered with an apologetic smile.

"That's okay, Ichigo brought back a lot of dried meat and smoked fish! We can sell those tomorrow at the market," Yuzu answered, hurrying to the kitchen with the groceries now.

Orihime stood once she was alone with the other sister, smiling nervously. "Hi-"

"Huh," was all Karin said with an unimpressed expression, looking her up and down before walking past her and up the stairs leading to the first floor, never saying a word.

Orihime continued to stand there for a few more moments, unsure of what had just happened and then deciding to sit down, completely thrown off her horse and feeling awkward. Was it something she said? Did Karin notice something about her appearance? Did she perhaps smell…?

She sighed and scratched the back of her head helplessly, wondering if she had maybe offended Karin in any way, racking her brain about what she knew about Hemen customs and habits. Should she go see what Ichigo was doing? But he left her here with the purpose of having her create a bond with his family, if she ran to him every time something happened that she didn't like, she'd come over as petulant and spoiled.

Orihime nodded to herself then and pressed her lips together in determination. She stood up again and followed the sound of vegetables getting chopped in the kitchen.

"Do you need any help, Yuzu?"

She was greeted with a radiant smile and a nod and set to work, happy to be of use after all.

By the time dinner was ready and they'd all gathered around the table with their bowls of soup, they saw the front door open itself again, this time to let in the patriarch of the Kurosaki family.

"Something smells amazing!"

"Hey, dad, let me go warm up the soup for you again," Yuzu greeted him joyfully, standing up from her seat and placing her bowl down to go serve her father some soup as well.

"Oh, Ichigo, you finally returned!" the rugged looking, bearded man said before his kind eyes and genuine smile were directed to Orihime sitting to Ichigo's left his. "And you brought a lady with you…? Or am I mistaken? Is she a friend of yours, Karin?"

"Not in a million years," Karin commented disinterestedly from her spot directly opposite from Orihime's, lifting her eyebrows derisively while picking up a piece of venison with her spoon.

Ichigo nudged his right foot against one of her knees underneath the table, ignoring her annoyed glare.

Orihime smiled and stood up nervously, slightly bowing her head in acknowledgement. "I'm a friend of Ichigo's, sir. We've been hunting and travelling together."

"They're more than just friends!" Yuzu's voice came from the kitchen, making the father laugh heartedly when he saw the identical blushes on Ichigo and Orihime's cheeks.

"Oh?" he said, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "So my son has finally decided which side of the fence he prefers?"

"Dad!" Ichigo exploded, standing up now and putting his bowl down.

"Oho, I wouldn't have cared if you'd brought home a farm boy," Ichigo's father said with a shrug, making Karin chuckle. "But I am glad that the girl you did decide on is as gorgeous as the dawn."

"My father, Isshin Kurosaki, Orihime," Ichigo introduced him with an annoyed roll of his eyes. "Dad this is Orihime, a huntress from Phorgas."

Orihime blushed when Isshin took her hand in his and kissed its back gently. "Nice to meet you, sir…" she whispered breathlessly, meeting his vibrant brown eyes when he looked up and suddenly feeling faint for some reason.

"The pleasure is all mine," Isshin replied, his stare lingering as he straightened up. "Make yourself at home, Orihime. You're welcome here."

She nodded quickly and took her hand out of his hold, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. "Thank you…"

"Ah, Karin," Isshin then said with a smile. "Please go check if I closed the sheep's pen properly, I'm suddenly having second thoughts… I was so hungry, I'm afraid I did a piss-poor job."

Karin shook her head with a smile and went to do as told.

"Ichigo, I brought some fresh hay with me on my way back; it's in the shed. Feed the horses with it, will you? Andels must be starving," he told his son, who nodded.

"I noticed that we were out of it," Ichigo commented, standing up from his seat with a smile directed at Orihime. "I'll be right back."

She smiled back and nodded, her eyes then resting on Isshin who was also looking at her, his eyes growing cold now that it was just them in the room.

"Yuzu?" he then called in a sing-song voice, never looking away from Orihime. "How much longer are you going to be?"

Fear now gripped Orihime when she realized what he'd done and she began to stand from her seat, the loudness of the sound wood made scraping over the stone floor startling her and pulling her attention away from the towering man. The moment the chair toppled back and hit the floor he was on her, pushing her back until he had her pinned against the cobblestone wall right from the hearth with a his large left hand covering her mouth to keep her from uttering a sound.

"Stop complaining, unless you want to eat cold soup! It'll be done in a few minutes," Yuzu called back and that's when Isshin pressed the point of his small, sharp pocket knife into the side of her throat, right above her left jugular. "I don't just know _what_ you are," he told her in a harsh whisper, staring into her wide and terrified amber eyes. "But I also know _who_ you are."

Orihime whimpered softly, her whole body trembling now as a humorless smile grew on his lips.

"Tell me, what is Her Holiness Ki'ina Orihime Var Tra'aklin doing here?"

* * *

_**Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun…?**_

_**Thank you to all of you who have liked, followed and reviewed on this! It warms an old shipper's heart to see so much love for this piece!**_

_**Catch ya'll on the next one!**_

_**-MistressBlaque-**_


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter 8_

* * *

"Tell me, what is Her Holiness Ki'ina Orihime Var Tra'aklin doing here?"

Her breath hitched in her throat with deepening terror when he said her full name. Her protest went muffled against the hand he had pressed against her mouth and she bit him instead, fighting against his grip on her only to stop when he pressed the knife even closer to her pulsing artery.

"Let me go," she breathed shakily, squeezing her eyes shut. "I'm no danger to anyone, I promise…!"

Isshin watched the drops of ruby that rolled over his blade before shaking his head in distrust. "You may not be, but you bring it with you," he said, observing her for a moment before decidedly taking a step back and pocketing the knife again. "Unfortunately, you will find no safe haven here," he muttered in hushed tones, holding her gaze with his when he knelt down on one knee in front of her, his right fist pressed against his chest solemnly. "My Queen."

Orihime's eyes went wide in shock and she pressed her lips together as she breathed through her nose, trying to keep her indignation and anger below the surface but failing. Soon her expression darkened and her fingers turned black, her nails elongating. "Sakumtir!" she hissed, now baring her fangs threateningly.

""Forgive me, Ki'ina," Isshin whispered imploringly, lowering his head. "I had to be sure it was you by blood."

"Still, you dared!" she growled, eyes hard. She then breathed in his scent and scowled in befuddlement, looking him over critically when something clicked in her mind. "You're…Are you Karti…?"

"Yes… a vanguard, sent here thirty years ago," Isshin answered gasplessly, her terrible fury taking away his breath, proving that she was indeed of Royal Lineage. He then dared looking up at her again. "My Queen."

"Thirty years…?" she echoed disbelievingly, smirking haughtily. "I was four years old when my father ordered all Karti back… eighteen years ago."

Isshin lowered his head again and closed his eyes penitently. "My Queen, I…"

"You deserted..." she deduced in a harsh tone, lips curling in disgust. "You're a traitor!" she snarled, baring her fangs again.

Isshin remained quiet, his eyes still closed and his face lowered towards the floor.

As she watched his stoic calm, she had a hard time feeding her anger, even if he had threatened to kill her only moments before. Orihime sighed and closed her eyes, letting her anger flow out of her and gaining control over her appearance again. "You found something here…" she acknowledged, understanding his motivations for staying all too well.

"I did, my Queen," Isshin answered quietly, smiling a little. "A new life."

Orihime approached him and touched him gently with her right hand fingers under his chin. "Stand…" she spoke authoritatively. "I'm afraid I am in no position to pass judgement over you, Isshin. Even if you did desert your ruler and country."

The older man did as told and rose back on his feet. "You're still the rightful ruler, Ki'ina."

"Where does your allegiance lie, Karti?" she asked, watching him put the chair she knocked down back on its feet.

"With the Twin Crown of Light and Dark," he answered, sitting down on the chair left from the one he'd restored and smiling when her expression didn't translate a deepening sense of trust. "I will remain loyal to the late Ki'ina and her Sartar and all children descended from them." He watched her close her eyes in acknowledgement. "I'm loyal to the rightful heir to the Twin Crown and everything she stands for."

Orihime sighed quietly and sat back down on her chair, suddenly unable to keep her hands from trembling on the table when the realization of this unlikely and strange turn of events settled in her mind. She'd thought never to see anyone from her home world ever again and that she'd be fine not knowing about the going ons of her Kingdom, but now she was dying to know, even if she knew that she was setting herself up for a guilt trip down memory lane. "What do you know…? What's the state of the Capital?"

Isshin took her hands in his and smiled warmly at her. "I've only heard whispers, but your Sartar is holding his ground against the Grand Council."

She closed her eyes, her heart torn between relief and mounting grief. "Uryuu…"

"The pressure they're exerting on him is coming from all fronts though, Ki'ina…" Isshin continued in hushed tones. "He won't be able to hold against the full force of the Grand Council for long and were he to lose the influential support he has…"

"It'll be a massacre," she concluded opening her eyes again to stare at their joined hands. "What can I do…?"

"You must return to Kadessa," he urged her. "You still have friends there."

"But how?" she whispered back. "I've been able to restore some of my Magicks but I'm still pretty far from being at full strength to open up a portal between dimensions,"Orihime admitted with a desolate shake of her head. "When I did it to escape it almost killed me."

Isshin fell silent for a moment and sat back to look at her pensively. "How long have you been here?"

"Today was the fourth day," she answered, leaning back a bit when he leaned in to look at her more closely. "What are you doing?"

"And yet you seem to have completely recovered physically," he mused, lifting intrigued eyes up to hers with a small smile. "Your Selit Amal… who would've thought…"

She blushed a deep shade of crimson at those words, letting go of his hands and gasping at the intensity of the feelings that now coursed through her at the sound of them. "It can't be… what are the odds of this happening?" she breathed, unable to keep the amorous smile that crept onto her lips away. "How old…?"

"25. Summeryear," Isshin answered with a knowing smile. "I can sense the Magick radiating off of you through your glamour… there's no mistaking it. He makes you glow."

Orihime fell silent, her mind slowly starting to make sense of everything that had happened with Ichigo and her up until now. "He's… my Soul Twin…? Then… he has to be at least full Karti…" she deduced, turning her head his way now. "He told me his mother died giving birth to your daughters… but she wasn't fully human either, was she?"

"No," was all the older man whispered, only holding her gaze when she expected an elaboration.

She nodded to herself in understanding, not needing to pry further. "He doesn't know anything…"

"I never wanted for him to," he replied, shaking his head. "Knowing would've only made him aware of things he's best not knowing."

Her eyebrows drew together in compassion. "But he had a right to know…"

A soft chuckle passed Isshin's lips and he closed his eyes. "I took away his birthright, all of their birthrights the day I decided to settle on this world with their mother."

"You can't decide over things like that…" she whispered back, frowning.

Isshin's expression lifted at her words, the sincere lack of the entitlement so known to the Tra'aklin feeling like a breath of fresh air to him. He looked at her and he truly saw the epitome of hope and change for the better the Daemonkin race so desperately needed. He smiled at her fondly. "I never told them who they really are to protect them."

Orihime lowered her head, giving him a semi-nod, once again showing sympathy for his motives. "But Ichigo still has a right to know… We couldn't understand this bond between us, but now there is an explanation. His premonitions… they're his Magicks bleeding through into his unconscious… And they're powerful too, he will figure it out sooner or later."

"My young and beautiful Queen," Isshin began, still smiling affectionately. "My son is already smitten with you and it's apparent that you haven't told him of your Sartar and that you are in fact legally bound to him before the Selit Tra'ak. Did you deem it important for him to know about that? Or do you expect him to figure it out later rather than sooner?"

"I'm running out of time to tell him… " she murmured, her eyes narrowing themselves begrudgingly as she averted her face from his, pressing her lips together in remorse. She sighed and shook her head, still deciding to change the subject for the time being. "How do you know about the effects of the Selit Amal? It hasn't been seen in centuries, not since the days of legend…"

"My wife would glow the same as you," was all he said. "That's how I know. The phenomenon is not as rare as the Artresi would have you believe."

"How so?" she questioned. "Why would the Old Sages keep this information from the public?"

"Because," he said, looking in the direction of the kitchen when he heard Yuzu move around. "It only happens between purebloods and Karti for some reason and they want to keep such connections from being formed too often. Especially now that this 'anomaly' has been happening more and more in the last century."

A surprised gasp escaped her when realization hit. "So your wife…" she asserted and then silently nodded to herself as she took in his wordless, wry smile. She then shook her head, wanting to know more about why unions between hybrids and pureblood Demonkin were secretly being regulated. "Why? Matches between Karti and Daemlin have always been encouraged for the endurance of our race."

"If it were so simple, Ki'ina, my wife would perhaps still be with me and my children would have grown up under Meral's four suns, playing in Kadessa's vivacious streets."

"You had no choice but to escape," she concluded, bringing her hands to cover her face despondently. "I had no idea any of this was going on. What's the point in trying to populate our world if we keep punishing the people for it and chasing them away…?"

Isshin was looking at her with heartfelt sympathy, seeing how much she cared for and loved her people, despite her self-imposed exile. "You went from no Magicks, to being able to sustain a powerful and intricate spell like your glamouring for days on end," he said, smiling knowingly when her eyes grew wide. "Why do you think the High Council, the Artresis and the Vritri Tra'ak are afraid of those who have found their Selit Amal?"

"They have no right to decide about the fate of Daemlin and Karti like this, it goes against the most basic of Deamlin and Karti rights! Karti are just as much part of the Daemlin race as I am!" she said in a harsh whisper, her anger translating itself in her tears that shone in the corner of her eyes. "Oh Oblivium Tra'ak… my father was right… we haven't advanced from the days of Eska'al. We would rather kill our own race than to see it evolve out of fear…"

"You must return to Kadessa, my Queen…" Isshin repeated. "Be the voice those who think like you need. The Sartar won't last long without you by his side."

Their eyes met again and she bit her lower lip with indecision of how she would formulate her next words. "You do realize—" she began, letting her voice die out on purpose.

"He's already made his decision it would seem," Isshin responded, smiling proudly.

"I need him," Orihime confessed, smiling apologetically when his hands reached out to hers again and she took them.

Isshin nodded, staring at her soft and delicate hands. "And he needs you. He's always known his destiny was elsewhere, that it lies with you."

"How do I go back?" she asked in a quiet whisper, feeling his Magicks tap into her most recent memories.

"You go back to where you fell into this world… the Cataract Chasm north of the Crestfallen Woods," Isshin murmured, staring blankly at a point on the wooden table. "Traces of the portal you used should still be there, the veil is weak on that spot. It is the reason you arrived there. Your combined Magicks should be able to take you back."

Her lips curled into an amazed smile as she looked at him in admiration. "You're a Tracker," she whispered. "Hence your alias as a hunter… Yours is a rare form of Magicks. Just like your son's."

"It is the only one I was born with," he replied, returning her smile and letting go of her when the front door opened again and Karin and Ichigo walked back inside the house.

"The horses are fed and the sheep pen is secured," Ichigo reported, sliding back into his chair right from her at the table.

"I'm going to hit the hay," Karin announced, walking past them with a yawn. "I have a very busy day tomorrow. Goodnight."

Her eyes fell on Orihime briefly and the latter could've sworn that she saw her dark grey eyes glimmer gold for an infinite instant.

"I'm going to see what's keeping Yuzu, I'm starving!" Isshin announced standing back up and leaving the room, smiling contentedly to himself.

"He seems to like you," Ichigo commented, taking Orihime's right hand on the table and kissing its back lovingly. "Did you guys get a chance to talk?"

She turned to him, the corners if her lips curling upward reassuringly. She placed her other hand on his right cheek tenderly, watching the flickering lights around them shine in his warm brown eyes. "We did, and now I need to talk to you."

He blinked a few times and managed a smile, despite feeling like he wasn't going to like what she was about to tell him next.

Turns out, he didn't like it at all.

"What…?"

She was sitting on his bed on the first floor of the house now, looking at him pacing left to right in the dancing glow of the few candles lighting his room. "I didn't know how to tell you, I didn't know it would come to matter… I never thought of going back until now… I'm… I'm sorry!"

"You're the Queen of all Daemonkin and… married?" he uttered in harsh, hushed tones. "You should've told me!"

"How?!" she cried, standing up and keeping him from moving around with a hand on his right wrist, getting a headache from his frantic pacing. "How was I supposed to tell you all that? When?!"

"When I asked you this afternoon!" he hollered back, getting in her face. "When you were kissing me! When you shared my bed, last night… When we…" He fell silent, the words not coming to him as they drowned in the bottomless pit of his growing heartache, the memory of the moments they shared and during which she chose not to tell him now haunting him and filling him with doubt.

"Did you keep it from me so you could… use me? And… my feelings for you…?" he wondered quietly, now staring at the wooden floor dejectedly. "What am I supposed to think now?"

"You're supposed to think that I wanted to protect you," she whispered, pulling his face to hers with a hand so he'd look at her. "You're supposed to know that I wouldn't have kept this from you with malignant purpose, that I was prepared to give my old life up, and live with you…"

"And how would that have been fair to your people… your husband? Or me…?" he retorted, pulling her hand from his face and sitting down now, shaking his head.

"Don't talk to me about what is fair! I was forced away from my home!" she said in vivid protest. "Do you think it didn't eat at me, that I didn't feel like I was failing them? I am Queen and yet I was powerless and accused of treason and sentenced to die! Should I have let them? Is that what you're saying? Are you going to sit there and reproach me for finding hope and a will to live again? Are you really going to judge me because I chose to start over with you? Vatel ur'tuk, Ichigo!" she sniffed, angrily wiping away a tear that had escaped her right eye. "Vatel ur'tuk!"

Ichigo closed his eyes ruefully and sighed, realizing that he'd let his hurt feelings talk for him instead of reason and chosen to dismiss her feelings in the process. "Orihime…" he started, halting when she suddenly knelt in front of him penitently, her head shaking from side to side as her shoulders shook with held back sobs.

"I was born and raised to become Queen… I never asked to be, but I did my best regardless during the year that I was. I love my people," she said in a small voice, the tears now rolling down her cheeks. "I was betrothed to my Sartar before I could even form sentences, but he and I never fell in love. He's like a brother to me and marrying him was part of the duties I fulfilled as Queen. I told you I never slept with a man and it is the truth: I am untouched; Uryuu and I never consumed our marriage in the two years since we've been married…"

He lowered his gaze guiltily, but never said a word.

"And then I met you and it was instantaneous…" she continued, hugging herself now. "I didn't understand it, because it didn't make sense, but you made it so easy… so easy to fall in love with you."

Ichigo's head shot up at those words and he found her watery eyes on him, looking at him pleadingly with a trembling, begging smile. "Ori—"

"Roma'aryu," she professed, shrugging awkwardly and still smiling. "There's no other way to describe it… I love you and it scares me because it's like I lose myself in you and I can't get you out of my head," she sobbed, chuckling through her tears when he knelt down and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "But I'm also so happy because I had never thought that feeling like this was possible, you touch me and I lose all coherent thought. Everytime."

"Udest roma'ar," he murmurs in her ear, smiling when she finally puts her arms around him in turn. "I love you. I love you. Gods, I can't put into words how much I love you."

She sighed in his embrace and hiccuped happily, holding him tighter."You're my Selit Amal," she revealed, opening her eyes to stare at the flame of a candle on his desk. "That's why we connected so fast… We are meant to be. You're my Soul Twin."

"Soul Twin…?"

"Your soul and mine are the same," she explained, looking up at him now. "According to our Holy Book, Soul Twins were once part of the same original soul, forged in the breath of the Meral Tra'ak during the beginning of times— they separated, becoming individual souls— forever searching for the other in each lifetime, sometimes even over the span of several— because they are truly one and the same and will always feel an immediate, undeniable, magnetic physical and romantic attraction to one and other." She touched the tip of her fingers against his face, tracing the angular contours of his handsome features tenderly. "It's like you said, I can' t hide or deny it; my soul belongs with yours. My Magicks resonates with yours..." She paused there and let him kiss her on her forehead. "You belong with me."

Ichigo frowned, her words now fully registering with him a moment later. "Your Magicks resonates with mine…? My Magicks? What Magicks?"

She leaned back and stared into his eyes intently. "Your dreams… they're a form of Clairvoyance associated with Light-based Magicks. Your father is clairvoyant, too. He can... find things that are kilometers away and further. He's the one who told me who you really are; he's the one who explained why you and I are connected like we are."

"My father—" he whispered, shaking his head and then stopping at the sight of her expectant countenance. "I'm…?"

"It explains everything!" Orihime said excitedly, smiling. "You're Karti! Just like your father is..."

Ichigo gulped and let go of her, feeling overwhelmed by the information she just divulged to him, the repercussions of what it all meant daunting him. "I… this can't be…"

"How else did you recognise me?" she asked, scrambling onto her feet when he did and following him out of the room. "Ichigo…? Where are you going…?"

He never said anything as he descended the stairs to the ground floor and opened the front door to step outside into the moonlit, starry night. His mind was in disarray and his heart was pounding wildly in his chest.

"I'm sorry."

Orihime quietly came to stand next to him on the cobblestone bridge, nervously picking at her own nails as she looked at the silver stream babbling over the rocks beneath the bridge. "I'm the one who surprised you with the news… I'd understand if you decided to stay here now…"

Ichigo chuckled lowly and closed his eyes with a shake of his head. "Ever since I was little, I've felt like I didn't belong, like something in me made me different."

She looked up at the large, full moon standing against the dark blue sky, her eyes growing despondent as his words resonated with her own past experiences. "Does your father know about your dreams?"

"I told him about them once, when I was younger, hoping that he'd be able to tell me what they meant," he answered, leaning onto the white stone railing with a sigh. "He told me not to worry about them, that if they meant something, someday I would come to understand."

"He knew you'd find out…" she concluded with a hopeful smile, now looking at him,searching for his eyes, but not receiving his gaze. The silence that followed made the courage she'd accumulated slip right out of her again. "Ichigo…?" she attempted, his reticence rendering her desperate for his attention. "Please look at me—"

"Tharak'ar, Orihime…" he told her, turning to face her now and smiling at her concerned expression. "Meeting you will forever be the greatest experience of my life."

Her breath hitched in her throat at those last words and her lips began to tremble. Was he saying goodbye? "You can't be serious…? What are you saying, Ichigo?"

Another grin grew on his features at the sight of her tearful face. "I'm saying that you changed the course of my life and that I'm forever grateful," he murmured, taking a step closer to her and reaching for her face with careful hands. "I know who I am because of you… I know my purpose."

Orihime closed her eyes and leaned into his touch longingly, shedding tears of relief. "What is your purpose…?"

Ichigo watched her kiss the palm of his right hand, feeling his desire for her awaken again. "To stand by you… always." Their eyes met and with the translucent silver that shone in hers, he saw his future glisten in them and the culmination to which this night would lead them. "So teach me," he coaxed, pulling her closer gently by the back of her neck until her hands went up his chest and around his neck. "Teach me your ways…"

She moved in and kissed him softly on his mouth. "What else?" she moaned breathlessly, mouth falling open quietly when his lips landed on the side of her neck.

"Teach me," he breathed in her ear and growling low in his throat when she took one of his hands and guided it to her breast. "How to please you… my Queen."

The warm hand closing around her right breast made her arch up to him, the one sliding in between her legs and pressing up against the apex of her thighs making her shudder and cry out his name. "Take what is yours tonight," she gasped, writhing against him now, her passion for him blazing up in the pale moonlight.

His assessing eyes lifted up to her desire-filled ones, his lips soundlessly mimicking her gasping mouth playfully when his fingers between her legs drew together and added some more pressure. "Are you sure…?"

"Take me…" she panted pleadingly against his lips. "Teach me how to please you… my Sartar… my King."

He kissed her once more with both his hands framing her face, his need now rampant. "Then come with me."

She takes the hand he holds out for her and lets him lead her back to the farmstead, towards the barn at the back of the main house, their excited laughter echoing in the quiet night.

* * *

_Wooo… We're getting where I've been dying to get to in this story… A lot has been revealed and may be confusing, so if you have questions, shoot in the comments!_

_Thank you ever so much for the likes, the follows, the reviews and the notes everyone!_

_Please make sure to check out the IchiHime 30 Days OTP challenge I'm working on in collaboration with SingingButterflyRose. Be warned though; it is very NSFW!_

_Looks like I'll be writing a lot of smut in the upcoming days; the next chapter for Lessons in Love should be up by the end of this upcoming week and the next Accursed chapter should follow closely after._

_Until then, take care everyone!_

_**-MistressBlaque-**_


	9. Chapter 9

**_Chapter 9_**

* * *

The lantern he'd lit downstairs illuminated the loft above the horse stall when they finished climbing the ladder he lead her on.

She sighed in amazement at the dimmed sight that was revealed to her. "This is where you spend most of your time when you're not hunting, isn't it?"

Ichigo grinned at her and moved to the nearest candle holder on the wall, lighting the candle with the fire from his lantern. "My dad and I sleep out here when we have plans to go hunting early in the morning. It's also my refuge for when my family is being crazy."

Orihime grinned and breathed in the air of the large storage place. "And by the way your scent lingers… that happens often," she assumed, running her eyes over the wooden walls decorated with the skins and antlers of the animals he'd hunted alone and with his father. There was a small round table with two chairs standing in the middle of the room and a large bed propped against the central wall, underneath the large window. Two cupboards stood by the bed on each side and many stacks of hay were pushed in a corner closest to the ladder leading down.

He chuckled. "Quite right," he confessed, quickly lighting the rest of the candles in the room before placing the lantern onto an empty shelf in a nearby cupboard. He turned around to meet her gaze when she moved her head away from the moon shining through the opened windows of the loft.

She was standing by the large straw bed with a small nervous smile, picking at her nails with her fingers again when he approached her silently. Her long, lustrous hair now fell down her shoulders.

He placed his hands around hers when he reached her and gave her a gentle smile. "Tonight will be all about you…"

"I feel like it's been like that ever since we met…" she said, chuckling a little and unable to meet his eyes. She then sighed and rolled her eyes to the floor with a scowl, feeling annoyed with her uneasiness because she knew that this was what she wanted.

Ichigo watched her with an amused smile and placed the fingertips of one hand underneath her chin so she'd look at him. "What's one more night, then?" he murmured, his smile widening at the sight of her blushing face.

"But…" she began, closing her eyes when he kissed her on his lips. "You told me that this will be your first time, too…"

Ichigo took her face in his hands and stared into her bright, golden eyes. "All my attention will be focused on you."

"Ichigo, I-"

He shook his head amusedly and smirked, kissed her deeply on her still moving lips and let his tongue do the convincing she still seemed to need, one caress at a time. "Let go and give into me…"

Her thoughts had already become an incoherent mess and she could only nod, letting her desire answer for her as his lips kept searching for hers with fleeting kisses, his hands now reaching for the strings of her tunic against her chest that kept it from falling off her shoulders. Hers worked to unbuckle and unhook the leather corset, letting the garment fall onto the floor before they moved up to cup his face again when he moved in to enmesh their lips together once more, the urgency of the kiss making her shiver with anticipation. He slowly coaxed her into turning around so he had his back to the bed. He then sat down and she followed him, never letting go of her lips as she climbed on top of him and straddled his hips. His fingers caressed their way up her clothed thighs until he reached the waistband of her leather pants and pulled out her tunic, now breaking the kiss and smiling up at her when his hands slid up her shirt.

His hands were warm on her, but their heat wasn't the reason why she gasped next; his thumbs were drawing small circles on her skin as he held her by her waist, going ever higher and higher until…

Ichigo watched her arch her back beautifully when his fingers caressed the hard buds of her nipples. He licked his lips longingly and pulled her tunic up far enough to expose the perfect rounding of her ample chest and the small, pink nipples that adorned them. "You're so beautiful," he murmured before he pounced and took her left nipple in his mouth hungrily.

His voracity surprised her and she whimpered at the delicious sparks of pleasure that coursed through her with every lick and nibble of his tongue and teeth on her lit up skin. "I-Ichigo..." she sighed, bringing her head back to look at him suckling on her, moaning throatily at the sharp stings of arousal that went through her and pooled in the pit of her stomach. "Ner'amal… yes..."

Ichigo let go of her nipple and proceeded with completely removing her tunic, their eyes meeting as her hair fell back down around her and they smiled at each other lovingly, time seemingly slowing down as they basked in the golden glow of the surrounding candles and the new of their deepening love.

A mischievous grin then spread on her lips and he smiled back questioningly. "What?"

"This," she answered, sitting back on his lap and snapping her right hand fingers.

His tunic suddenly disappeared. "Hey!" he protested, looking up at her accusingly.

"It's only fair, I'm naked from the waist up, too!" she giggled back, moving in to take his face in her hands and kissing him. "And it's so much faster."

"I like that shirt."

"It stinks."

He huffed with a small pout and let her kiss him again. "Hey," he then whispered between kisses, caressing her hair out of her face and behind an ear. "I want you to be yourself tonight. I want to see you as you really are."

Orihime smiled happily and closed her eyes, releasing the spell keeping her true form concealed. "Better…?" she wondered, throwing her head and hair back and stretching her wings with a soft content moan and purr.

"I really do prefer you like this…" he concluded, pulling her to him by her lithe waist and then reaching for the dragon head shaped clasp on her right hip and unhooking it, pulling the black leather skirt off her hips and throwing it to the side impatiently. "You say your senses are more heightened in this form, right?" he murmured, looking up at her when his right hand slid into her drawstring underwear and pressed his fingers against her moist warmth.

"Oblivium… T-Tra'ak…!" she loudly moaned, rolling her hips against his finger as she arched.

Ichigo watched her silently and bit his lower lip, loving to see her in so much pleasure, whining and sobbing so beautifully.

He slipped a finger inside and she shivered, her intense, golden eyes resting on his as she slowly rocked her body on it, her hands resting on his shoulders. Ichigo added another finger after a few moments and recaptured one of her nipples between his lips, letting her soft cries of praise urge him into moving his hand faster between her legs.

The look of utter awe that began to grow on her features was one he recognized and he wrapped his free arm around her comfortingly when her body began to tense up and her breathing rhythm turned erratic. "Ner'amal…" he told her encouragingly, closing his eyes at the sensation of her inner walls clamping down around his thrusting finger.

She'd never felt any of what was happening before; her body was hot, she couldn't breathe and it was like his fingers inside of her were driving her mad; she couldn't think, she had no control over her movements and now something was building up inside of her at a frightening pace, welling up inside of her with each of his strokes and she wouldn't be able to keep the pressure from erupting, wouldn't be able to contain it and she didn't know what was going to happen if she didn't, how was she supposed to keep control over this thing? She couldn't—!

"I-Ichigo… I—"

"Let it happen, don't fight it… I'm right here…" he consoled, curling his fingers within her slightly and watching her come undone completely.

Her skin exploded in a myriad of colors, her wings spread wide as she arched her back and she made the sexiest, most erotic sound he'd ever heard. It was a mix of a high pitched moan and a deep purr and it made his own erection twitch in anticipation. "You're gorgeous, Orihime…"

Orihime whimpered weakly and sought the comfort of his embrace, her petite body trembling against his while he removed his fingers from her and caressed her naked back tenderly.

"Are you okay?

She nodded quietly over his shoulder, still attempting to catch her breath. "By Oblivium…" she then whined, making him laugh. "Whoa…"

"So you never…?" he asked her, leaning back to look at her, his eyes growing wide when she shook her head. "It'll be the first one of many," Ichigo throatily whispered up to her, smiling at her blushing and glistening skin. "I promise."

"I love you," she then whispered, looking him deep in the eyes with an amorous smile and cupping his face tenderly when he laid them down on the bed and rolled them over so he was on top of her. He kissed her softly while his fingers pulled the strings of her underwear loose so he could take it off. His lips then slowly kissed their way down her body, halting briefly by both her nipples to lick them and savouring her breathy moans and moving further down planting a last kiss above the groomed apex of her thighs.

Her eyes lifted when he rose to his full length in front of the bed, her breath quickening under his intense gaze, the blush on her cheeks only deepening at the way his lips curled into an appreciative smile. "W-what are you waiting for…?" she asked breathlessly, biting her lower lip hesitantly.

Ichigo reached for the leather strings holding his pants on his hips together and pulled, never taking his eyes off of her naked body and licking his lips impatiently. With the strings now loose, the pants fell open and he pulled them down before stepping out of them and straightening up again.

Orihime swallowed nervously at the sight of his engorged manhood, a look of anxious expectation now forming on her features.

"I take that it's your first time seeing one," he asked, his expression now compassionate. He could understand how seeing an erect penis for the time could be intimidating or even frightening. "I won't do anything to hurt you," he then said crawling onto the bed next to her.

She turned her body towards his and ran her right hand up his chest and shoulder, her gaze lingering on his twitching shaft. "I know you won't… it's just… can I touch it…?"

He chuckled and nodded, watching her small hand reaching out for his penis and jump a bit when it throbbed, making her giggle.

"Does it… hurt?" she then asked when the warmth of the rigid skin on first contact startled her again and she looked up at his shaking head. She wrapped her fingers around his length and closed her eyes at the shot of arousal that went through her when he moaned throatily, indicating that she was doing something good. She tentatively moved her hand upwards, creating a tunnel with her fingers and gasping when his lips landed on the side of her neck and kissed her longingly there while she jerked him off gently. Her lips searched for his when he reached up to one of her horns and she kissed him furiously, her arousal awakened again.

"Sit on top of me," he then murmured to her, laying down on the bed and resting his hands on her hips when she did as told and placed her hands on his chest, gasping at the heat that throbbed against her moist folds. "Move your hips a little…"

She did as told and grinded her hips on him, back and forth at first before she found the rhythm that procured her the most pleasure, soon swerving her lower body on top of his and throwing her head back.

He watched her discover her erotic enthusiasm as she continued to move sensually on him, his hips now matching her passion with his. "Just like that… Orihime… just like that..."

"Yes…" she moaned, thrusting her hips wilder, the ecstasy threatening to take her over. "Please… Ichigo… I… need…"

Ichigo sat up and deftly slid his right hand over the curve of her backside to grab a handful of her left buttock and coaxed her into lifting her body up a little so his other hand could place his erection in alignment with her entrance from the front, his eyes never leaving hers when his right hand exerted pressure on her to lower her hips again. "Easy…" he told her, relaxing his grip on her. "You're in control, we'll go as deep as you want to go, okay?"

Her mouth had fallen open in a soundless gasp and she nodded, eyes drifting shut at the feel of his hard, throbbing length pushing its way inside of her quivering body. "Oh… oh…!" she breathed, her hands grasping onto his shoulders desperately with every inch he got deeper, each throb reverberating through her like a resonating drum. It didn't exactly hurt, but she couldn't deny that the feeling was a bit alien to her. She lifted her eyes to look at his and she found them closed in silent bliss, uncovering in that moment the need to make this as good for him as she could. So she wiggled her hips a bit when his erection met with resistance, gasping in time with him when he unexpectedly slid in deeper and she fell down in his lap, now filled to the brim. The sting of her virginity being taken only lasted a second, her senses were more overwhelmed by the feel of his complete, thick, hard and pulsing manhood deep within.

"Are you alright?" he wondered again after a few moments of her shivering in his embrace, brushing her golden brown locks out of her face so she'd look at him. She was so wet and thight around him and he was trying really hard to keep his hips still now that her moist warmth enveloped him so snugly and he felt like his entire being was about to get absorbed into her.

"Kiss me."

He happily obliged, drinking in her throaty moan when she tentatively moved her hips. "Oh God…" he croaked, gripping her small body tightly against his as she rolled her hips again, making him squeeze his eyes shut, his expression one of sweet torment.

Being in control of the pace gave her the freedom to experiment, but she figured that they could keep that for later, because right now she wanted him with her, making love to her like she knew he wanted to. "Ner'amal…" she called softly, taking his face in her hands when he lifted his head from her chest and met her gaze. "Take what is yours," she murmured, staring into his depths of brown, wanting to convey the complete trust she had in him. "Make love to me."

He smiled reassuringly and gave her a nod before laying back, reaching for her so she would lay on top of him. "Try and match my rhythm…" he instructed her, grinning when she gasped at the feel of him pushing inside of her. "I'll go slow, we'll keep it slow until you feel ready for more."

She nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating on the movements of her hips on top of his, meeting his thrusts carefully and gasping his name while he was suckling on the flushed skin in the crook of her neck and shoulder. She felt herself getting lost in the amassing torrent of sensations he made her feel, her voice soon producing nothing but moans and desperate gasps, quickly turning the slow and lazy pace into an impassioned and fevered one.

By then she was already tethering on the edge of sanity, wondering how it was possible to feel this good and needing for him to catch her because she felt like she was falling, incessantly."I-Ichigo…!"

"Yes!" he breathed against lips, capturing them scant seconds later, his hands now directing her hips with his fingers digging into the flesh of her ass. He chuckled into the next kiss when he felt her tail wrap itself playfully around his right arm and she quickened her movements, now having found the tempo that worked for the both of them.

She was truly, magnificently beautiful he decided to himself as he watched her roll her curvaceous body on top of him, completely lost in their love-making, her skin glittering and shimmering with a thousand colors, her wings fluttering behind her with excitement. Her innate sensuality now seemed to have increased exponentially and simply watching her eyes drift shut while she arched or seeing her upper teeth and fangs rest on her lower lip while she whimpered made him want more of her; he was so wrapped up in her, felt so connected to her that he only wanted more, needed all of her, insatiable with ardent desire for her.

She was his, had always been his, through all of the ages they unknowingly searched for each other, through the nights, through the days; as an ephemeral thought, a wish, a longing or a dream; she'd been there. In the back of his mind and in the deepest memories of his heart. Always.

He could see it now; all of those past lives playing in his mind like the shadows of the many candles that played on her smooth skin. He was spooning her now, his hips grinding into hers, one arm sneaked underneath her armpit and left wing for his hand to fondle her right breast, keeping her pressed to him while they continued to rock against each other, kissing her relentlessly through her beseeching whimpers and cries.

They'd been in this place before. Together; entangled, connected and lost in their passion. They'd done this many, many times over. And everytime, in each lifetime, their connection only grew deeper, more profound, continuously surpassing any form of understanding.

Her mind touched his in those moments when their love reached its culmination and he saw her; with different faces, different smiles, having made a multitude of choices, gone through a sea of experiences… and every single time he'd been with her. With different faces, and different smiles. Holding her hand, pushing her on and holding her, supporting her and comforting her, protecting her and dying for or with her. Over and over. Time after time after time.

They were all those people and none of them. They were one and they were everything.

Their union was cosmic, constant, limitless, all-consuming and endless.

And it was only the beginning.

_In another place._

_With another chance._

"Molek daalak, molek furtak…"

She woke up with those words on her lips the following morning. Her eyes blinked open and she found herself laying on her stomach on the covers. Breathing in deeply, she closed her eyes and smiled when his scent hit her nose and the memories of the past night floated back into her mind. She slid her arm over the bed in search for him and opened her eyes again with a wondering frown when she couldn't find him.

"Ner'amal…?" she called, sitting up now with the quilt covering her naked body. She looked around the loft but he wasn't there, and his clothes were gone too. His scent was still prominent enough for her to know that he'd gone not so long ago.

Outside, she could hear Yuzu feeding the poultry and singing a joyful song in her clear and youthful voice. Orihime grinned and turned to the opened window above the bed to let the morning breeze and the warmth of the morning sun play on her face and her horns, biting her lower lip at the bliss and calm she felt. She thought to herself, as she watched Isshin herd the sheep over the cobblestone bridge with Nenya, that she wouldn't mind spending the rest of her life here, if it meant waking up with joy every morning and making love to Ichigo every night.

Last night had blown her mind, there was no other way to describe it. Her Magicks still hummed from the intense sensations of the past evening. And she could still feel him; her lower regions still throbbed from where he'd been, but it wasn't only that - she could actually feel him like he was standing right next to her and if she closed her eyes and focused, she could smell the eggs and the bacon he was making for her in their kitchen. She giggled happily and rested her head on her right arm on the windowsill, opening her eyes again to take in the beautiful scenery that was Nesba.

The actual village was located a ways from the Kurosaki farm, connected to it by a cobblestone-paved, windy road. Orihime saw the town slowly waking up in the distance and she could also distinguished the central market place come to life in the heart of the village, wondering if they would go take a look later today.

Her eyes then fell on the black haired woman who was loading up a cart with merchandise right outside the stall.

Karin turned around and looked up at Orihime, meeting her gaze with an amused smirk before walking into the barn.

Realization then dawned on the Tra'aklin and she reached up her left hand gingerly, cursing under her breath when she felt her horns there.

She'd completely forgotten to put her human disguise back on.

A gasp escaped her when she heard someone climb up the steps of the ladder leading to the loft behind her and she hurriedly changed her appearance again, also making sure that she was wearing at least her shirt and her leather leggings.

"I hope you're descent…!"

Orihime jumped a little, blushed and got off the bed. "Y-yeah, come on up," she replied, smoothing down her hair nervously.

Ichigo's sister appeared a moment later and finished climbing the ladder. "Goodmorning," she greeted, giving the older girl a smile. "Sleep well?"

"Yes, I did thank you," Orihime replied politely, sitting down on the bed to reach for her leather corset that lay on the floor. She straightened with a renewed blush on her face when she realized that Karin had to understand what had happened for her corset to be on the floor by the bed and not folded neatly on, say, one of the chairs around the round table for example. Her underwear and leather skirt still lay on the floor as well...

"Do you love him?"

Orihime lifted her head to Karin and nodded quietly. "With all of my heart."

The younger girl's eyes turned hard then and she stepped up to Orihime, grabbing her by the neck of her tunic and looking her in the eyes sternly. "I can tell that whatever it is that you are, we are too."

Orihime's eyes grew wide and she saw that flicker of gold in her deep grey eyes again. She continued to stare back at her, not wanting to do anything that could end up scaring her. "Please let go of me," she said calmly.

"My brother is very dear to me and my sister," Karin continued, unfazed. "He's always protected us and if we find out that you're hurting him in any way, I will end you."

Orihime sighed gently and looked at her tenderly, having immense respect for the love she carried for her brother. "Ichigo… saved my life on the day that we met. He's helped me in more ways than I can count," she whispered, her eyes going soft. "I would never do anything to hurt him and because of the person that he is, because of what he means to me, I want to do anything that's in my power to keep him safe too. No matter what."

Karin searched her eyes for a moment and then slowly let go of her. "You're not lying."

"I truly love your brother," Orihime assured her, grinning at her. "And I'm sorry if my advent had you worried."

"You're like us, but still different…" Karin then said, frowning a little. "I can usually tell when someone is lying or keeping something hidden, but you… I can't get a complete read... Those were horns I saw earlier, weren't they?"

"I am Daemlin," Orihime admitted, keeping her voice even when the other girl's eyes grew wide in consternation.

"Does my brother know?"

"He found me in my original form. With my horns and all," Orihime smiled with a shrug.

"Wait, but if you're…" Karin began, shaking her head. "Does that mean…"

"You're part Daemlin," Orihime revealed. "Just like your father."

"Uh... huh?!" Karin voiced, looking confused.

"You can read minds," Orihime whispered knowingly, her grin growing wider at the sight of Karin's shocked expression. "Does Yuzu have powers, too?"

"She can read people's feelings," Karin answered.

"An empath," Orihime clarified with a nod, chuckling now that Yuzu's correct assessment of her and Ichigo's relationship last night made sense now. "You all have amazingly rare abilities for Karti. Still a bit underdeveloped, but strong abilities."

"Karti…?" Karin echoed, shaking her head as she sat down on one of the chairs, visibly intrigued.

Something in Orihime stirred suddenly and a rush of excitement went through her when she felt Ichigo's approach. "Your brother is coming back," she said with an eye on the entrance of the loft, rolling her gaze back up to the young girl observantly when she turned to look as well.

Karin laid her gaze back on Orihime hesitantly. "I'm sure you want some time alone..." she commented with a soft smile when she read the other woman's desire and saw her amorous smile. "I have to go sell our wares at the market, but…"

"We can talk more when you get back," Orihime promised with a reassuring smile.

The black haired girl nodded once solemnly and walked back to the ladder to find her brother already climbing it with a basket of food in one hand. "I'm off to the market, see you tonight."

"Alright," he answered, watching her hurry her way down the steps. "What was she doing here?" he then asked Orihime who stood up from the bed and sat down by the table.

"She came to talk," she answered giddily, kicking her legs excitedly when he approached her with a grand smile. "Hi!"

"Goodmorning," he greeted her lovingly, before planting a tender kiss on her awaiting lips. He then placed the basket with the food he'd made on the table. "I didn't want to wake you, you looked so beautiful asleep. And I figured you'd be hungry after… last night."

She blushed and pulled back her hair behind both ears. "Last night was amazing…" she whispered demurely whilst he dressed the table with the food. "And I'm starving!"

Ichigo chuckled and placed the now empty basket on the floor, taking place on the other chair. "There was a moment when you glowed so brightly I thought I was lying next to the sun… you illuminated this room with daylight. You were so beautiful."

She stood up and sat down on his right knee, cupped his face with her hands and stared him deeply in the eyes. "The way you made me feel… I never felt like that before. I loved it. All of it. I felt like the most beautiful woman in the world."

He only smiled up at her with his eyes gazing at her tenderly as he basked in the glow of her love, knowing that he'd die happily if he could just stay in this moment with her for all eternity. "You are," he murmured throatily, closing his eyes when she moved in to kiss him. "I love you."

She grinned and kissed him again, giggling when his hands slid up her thigh and came to rest on her waist. "I love you too," she then muttered, staring him in the eyes again. "I know now that I've always loved you. That nothing will keep me from loving you in a hundred years… in a thousand years…in a different place or another lifetime... It will always be you."

"I feel like something happened to our connection," Ichigo then acknowledged. "When I was in the kitchen there was a moment when-"

"Yes," she interrupted him, nodding vividly with an excited grin. "My mind touched yours."

Ichigo moved his head affirmatively as well. "Like in the legend."

"Yeah," she smirked, moving in to meet his lips again with hers.

And then, a sudden, bone-chilling scream pierced through the quiet of that morning.

Ichigo turned his head to the opened window from where he'd heard his sister's cry. "Yuzu!" he whispered, standing up after Orihime had moved to stand in alert and hurrying his way down the ladder, with her close behind him.

"You stay hidden," he told Orihime once they were in the stalls and he reached for a nearby pitchfork.

"What about you?" she whispered back, holding him from moving on with her hand on his right wrist. "You can't go out there alone! What if it's the Vritri-"

He kissed her furtively on the lips and looked her seriously in the eyes. "You stay hidden," he repeated gently before walking off towards the front exit.

Orihime pressed her lips together in worry and then turned to go around the structure from the back.

A tall, muscular, light blue haired man was standing in front of the barn when Ichigo stepped out, holding a whimpering and thrashing Yuzu by the back of her throat. "Oh, there you are."

"Let go of her!" Ichigo growled, holding the pitchfork threateningly in both hands now. "Do I know you?!"

"Where's the bitch?" was all the man asked.

Ichigo scowled but didn't say anything, his grip on the fork tightening.

Yuzu let out another scream when the large fingers on her throat closed together a bit further, her eyes opened wide in pain when they finally rested on her brother. "A little bit more and her neck will snap," the blue haired stranger said. "Where's the bitch you fucked last night, peasant?"

"Let her go!" Ichigo gritted his teeth and was about to attack when suddenly he felt something sharp pressing into the side of his throat, effectively stopping him in his movements.

"There is little point in resisting, human," another voice told him and he dared to look at the black haired and green-eyed man standing on his left, who was pressing the arrowhead-shaped tip of his tail that peeked out of his long, white robe harder against him. "We have no interest in you, nor this human woman. Tell us where the fugitive Orihime Var Tra'aklin is this instant or suffer the consequences."

"Ichigo…!" Yuzu croaked, tears running down her cheeks as she watched him let go of the pitchfork. It fell onto the ground with a dull sound. "Ichigo, no…"

"Let her go," Ichigo breathed, lifting his hands innocuously. "Let her go and I'll tell you what you need to know."

"No, don't do it!" Yuzu cried, shaking her head. "They have no intention to-"

"Shut the fuck up, you stupid bitch!" her captor growled, pushing her down onto the ground, making her cry out in pain.

"Yuzu!" Ichigo cried desperately, starting to run towards her only to get violently jerked back by his throat when the black tail wrapped itself around his neck held him suspended a few inches above the ground, now choking him, his feet straining to touch the ground while his fingers clawed at his throat.

"Stop it!" Yuzu whimpered, one arm hand stretched out to her brother, while the hostile one on her neck still kept her pinned down. "Please! Please-"

Something then whistled through the air and a moment later, Ichigo fell onto the ground, panting heavily and removing the remains of the severed tail from his neck hastily, coughing for air a moment later.

Both aggressors switched their attention away from their victims and turned to the petite figure standing by the barn, holding an ornate black bow in her hands. Her expression was dark and her eyes shone a dangerous yellow, her wings unfolded threateningly behind her and both her talon-like feet and hands colored black.

The blue haired male smirked a little and cracked the joints of his knuckles in gleeful anticipation.

"Here comes our treacherous Queen…"

* * *

**_This is so late, I'm sorry! I've been so busy…_**

**_As always, thank you for the support! Things are finally going to accelerate in this story, so I hope you're excited for that!_**

**_Two new artworks for Accursed have been posted on my Deviant Art account, so go check them out! They're amazingly gorgeous! Links are in my Bio._**

**_Lessons in Love is up next in my update list, and hopefully I will by the end of next week._**

**_Also keep an eye out for SingingButterflyRose's and my 30days NSFW Ichihime OTP challenge updates, you get two succulent chaps every Monday and Friday! The link to my partner's prompts are also in my bio!_**

**_Until then, take care everyone!_**

**_-MistressBlaque-_**


	10. Chapter 10

**_Chapter 10_**

* * *

Her arms lowered slowly and her favorite weapon came to rest by her left side. A fury now shone in her hard amber eyes, her lips contorted in a snarl. A low, menacing growl came from behind her sharp teeth as her eyes now rested on the two intruders.

"Grimmjow, Ulquiorra…" she voiced gutturally, tilting her head to the side, as if in regret.

"There's no where left to run, slut. You're coming with us," the Daemlin called Grimmjow said, lifting his clawed right hand threateningly. "I will get the bounty that's on your pretty head!" he cried, shooting forward towards her.

"Orihime!" both Yuzu and Ichigo cried from their respective positions on the ground where their attackers had left them.

Ulquiorra remained quiet, his large green eyes squinting in distrust when he observed how calm their mark was. "Grimmjow, stop, something is not right."

"She's mine!" Grimmjow exclaimed, about to land his blow on her and then hitting nothing but air when she disappeared in a purple dome of darkness, warping out of his reach.

They all gasped at her disappearance and looked around for her, not seeing the brown haired Tra'aklin anywhere.

"How did she do that?!" Grimmjow yelled in frustration, turning around and scanning his immediate surroundings frantically. "She was not supposed to be able to do that!"

Ulquiorra remained silent while a calculating stare grew on his pale features, his gaze soon resting on Ichigo and his sister who had come to her brother's side. "No, we were assured her Magicks had been bound by Sakumtir…" he murmured pensively, still looking at the young hunter and his sister.

"Then how?!" Grimmjow growled angrily.

"There doesn't seem to be a logical explanation to this," the black haired Daemlin replied before his eyes went wide when he saw Orihime appear behind the Kurosaki siblings and quickly kneeling behind them. He hurried to them, but he was too late; by the time he struck his lance forward, they had already disappeared in one of her warp teleportation domes and his attack hit the ground where they'd been a fraction of a second before.

"No!" Grimmjow hollered, taking on his full Daemlin form in his rage.

Ulquiorra straightened and sent his lance back into the void. "Smart," he mused quietly. "Can you track her?" he then asked the panther-like creature with the dark blue fur that now landed on all fours next to him and sniffed the air. Its midnight blue-feathered wings unfolded and it nodded.

"We'll find her. She's in for a little surprise if she's going where I think she is," Grimmjow snarled, taking for the skies, closely followed by his partner.

* * *

The air around them carried the scent of smoke when they appeared miles away from Nesba again.

Yuzu fell down onto the grass when they appeared on the oceanside hills of the Nakarian heights.

"By the Gods…!" she gasped, landing on her hands and knees, her hair flailing around her in the strong wind. The unexpected warped teleportation and the reveal of Orihime's true form hadn't left her unshaken and she couldn't dismiss the sudden queasiness that took over; resulting in her vomiting onto the grass.

Ichigo kneeled next to her and held on to her shoulders comfortingly, fighting against his own nausea while looking around their surroundings to find his bearings.

Something felt wrong.

"This is-?"

Horribly wrong.

Orihime stumbled a bit when she tried to take a step, her impressive display of high level Magick having drained her of the little energy she had left from the night before. Her face had drawn together in dread and worry when she smelled the smoke the moment they warped onto the sea-side cliff, her hair whipping about her frame in the violent wind as she hurried to the top of the hill.

"No…"

Ichigo watched her go and felt his own heart constrict with dread when he too noticed the large column of black smoke that rose up from behind the high ground and into the cloudy skies. "Orihime…?" he whispered apprehensively, his intuition telling him what he didn't want to be true.

"No…! No!"

Yuzu scrambled onto her feet as well now and went up the hillside with her brother supporting her and her shaky legs, the tears already running down her face empathically. "It's gone…" she whispered quietly before they ever even made it to the top.

The tranquil village of Nakar was no more.

"Ma Sola!" Orihime cried, now running down towards the main road that led straight to the village, her tears running down her face as she hoped to find someone, anyone alive in the burnt down settlement. "Master Joni!"

"My Gods…" Ichigo breathed, his eyes wide in horror. "My Gods, no…" he gasped, following Orihime down the hill and running after her. "Orihime, wait!"

Yuzu's wide brown eyes briefly flickered golden when she focused her gaze on what was once the village, the wind blowing away the quiet tears that rolled down her cheeks while she slumped back down onto the floor, her legs having given away on her again. "I can still feel them… All of them! Merciful Gods…!"

"Orihime! Wait!" Ichigo called, stumbling through the thick smoke that stung his eyes and filled up his lungs, making him cough. He entered through what was left of the wooden front gate, his gaze going frantically over his unrecognisable surroundings before it finally landed on her.

And his heart broke a thousand times over.

She was weeping on the ground in the middle of the central market place, on her knees and cradling a lifeless body in her lap.

"I'm so sorry…" he heard her sob over and over as he approached her gingerly and kneeled next to her. "Ma Sola… I'm so sorry… Oblivium Tra'ak, why…? Why…?"

"Ner'amal…" he murmured desolatedly, passing a hand over the unseeing eyes of the dead woman, closing them forever.

"Even the children…" she whimpered, lifting her head and gritting her teeth when she saw the bodies littering the village, the beach and floating in the nearby water, her face scrunched together in inconsolable regret, her lips trembling as thick drops of bereavement rolled down her beautiful face. "They murdered everyone… everyone...! The children- why would they do this! They were innocent!"

Ichigo shook his head consolingly and took her in his arms, sheltering her head against his chest, closing his eyes against the scene of massacre that took place in what was once a peaceful village while she wailed.

"From water we are born and to water we shall return," Orihime whispered solemnly in the words of Nakar's religion, squeezing her eyes shut against the overwhelming grief that took her, her lips still trembling when she pressed a tender kiss on the passed woman's forehead. "May you and yours find peace in Eyru's watery embrace…"

"We can't stay here," Ichigo murmured after a while, his senses standing on alert now. "If they came here and tracked you all the way to Nesba..."

She was shaking her head in vivid protest while he was talking. "We can't just leave them like this-?"

"Orihime," he told her sternly, taking her face in his hands and staring at her intently, wanting for her to understand the urgency of their current situation."There's nothing we can do for them now. We need to get my sister away from here or they will find us and kill us," the hunter said knowingly; having borrowed the knowledge from his clairvoyance. "I've seen it. They've probably been tracking us ever since we left the cabin in the Waking Woods."

The young Tra'aklin sobbed and closed her eyes. She never should've let herself be lulled into this false sense of security she'd felt for the past few days... she should've left when she had the chance. Now these innocent people had paid the price. Why did she even think that she'd be safe here? There was no place she would be safe; especially not in this world because the Vritri Tra'ak would never stop coming after her, never stop burning down every haven of peace she'd deem safe enough to stay at. Isshin had been right. "It's all my fault, I never should've dragged you into this..."

"I dragged myself into this," he replied gently, urging her to stand and let go of Ma Sola. "But if we don't leave, my sister will be in trouble. We need to find someplace we can-"

"Your dad," she interrupted him, having discerned where his mind had wanted to go. He nodded and she gave him a determined look, before following him through the smoke. "We need to find your dad. Nesba isn't safe for your family anymore."

"How will you find him?" Ichigo wondered when they walked back through the burned down gate and found Yuzu walking up to them, panting heavily. "Can you just appear next to him without knowing where he is?" He reached for his sister who was still feeling overwhelmed by the lingering emotions of those who had lost their lives here.

"Your dad and I shared blood last night," Orihime explained, placing a gentle hand against Yuzu's face. Her exhausted disposition hadn't gone unnoticed to the Tra'aklin. She willed for the onslaught of emotions that crippled her mind and body to stop. "Sakumtir. We're bound by the Blood Magick he used to expose me."

Yuzu sighed in relief against her brother's chest and opened surprised, yet grateful eyes when she suddenly found back control over her Magick. "Thank you, Orihime…"

Orihime smiled warmly at the younger girl and looked at Ichigo again. "I can find your father by tapping into the Magick you two have. His Magick is in your blood as well."

"What about Karin?" Yuzu asked softly, eyes at half mast. "And the rest of our village?"

"I'll go look for her once we're sure your dad and you are safe," Orihime answered, taking the hand Ichigo was holding out for her and immediately feeling her strength return to her as she glowed. "They're looking for me and they will stop at nothing to capture me… I can't give them more reasons to hurt the people I have come to care about," she explained, the tears welling up in her eyes again when she locked them with Ichigo's. The young human male had a look of silent disquiet on his face that mirrored her inner turmoil. "I need to go back and take all of this mess with me... I don't belong here…"

"Our father welcomed you in our home, my brother took you under his protection. You belong with us. You belong with my brother, I can feel it," Yuzu said, her eyes going soft as she watched the beautiful and kind woman radiate light and warmth in front of her. "We chose for you to be with us, we don't blame you for what is happening. Those monsters killed those good people, not you."

"Stop blaming yourself," Ichigo said, pulling both his loved ones against his chest and hugging both of them tenderly. "We're not having it."

Orihime looked up at him, a single tear rolling down her surprised face as she met his compassionate smile. "Ner'amal…"

"That's right," he said consolingly with a nod.

Yuzu grinned at her and they shared a sisterly giggle before hugging each other in Ichigo's embrace.

Orihime cast a last, disconsolate look on Nakar and then squeezed her eyes shut, burying her face in Ichigo's chest.

"Let's go."

And they disappeared again in a dome of purple light, teleport-warping away from the destroyed landscape that was once Nakar.

Not a moment too soon, it would later be revealed.

* * *

Nenya's ears lifted at attention towards the small stream beneath the high stone bridge she and Isshin were currently herding the sheep over.

Isshin pressed his lips together when he felt his Magick stirr within him and hurried over to the other side of the bridge so he could follow the dog and descend the slopes of the valley towards the rivulet, where a sphere of dark purple materialized into existence, soon revealing the silhouettes of three people when they stepped out of it.

"Ki'ina!" he exclaimed when he saw her, lowering his head respectfully.

"Isshin!" Orihime called, opting to float towards him over the slippery rocks because of her naked feet . "You must take your family to safety! The Vritri Tra'ak have come."

"Dad, the shack by the lake! You and the girls can hole up there for a while until it's safe!" Ichigo said, walking up to his father while holding on to his sister supportingly.

"By the Gods…" Isshin whispered numbly with an overwhelmed look on his features when he took his daughter in his arms gratefully. "Where is Karin?"

"We're going to get her now, we didn't have the time before…" Orihime answered, casting her gaze to the watery ground as her voice died out.

"Dad, stay off the main roads, especially those leading to Nakar…" Ichigo told him with a grave expression, lowering his head with a shake at the shocked countenance of his father. "Master Joni and Ma Sola… are no more. They raised the village to the ground. We barely managed to get away from the Vritri Tra'ak when they came to the farmstead. I think they followed us to Nakar… We bought ourselves some time for Karin and the village, but we need to get going and get her out of there, so not to give them any reason to harm the village."

Orihime squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth from the crushing guilt she felt, fighting the tears once more."Tharak'ar, Isshin…"

"Good Gods…" the Kurosaki patriarch lamented, squeezing his eyes shut as his eyebrows drew together. Yuzu tightened her hold on him and he did the same, biting back his tears. "You saw this?" he demanded his oldest, referring to his clairvoyant abilities. Ichigo nodded solemnly.

Isshin sighed and resigned to accept these hard truths. "Please go find my daughter, Ki'ina and please be careful," he then begged Orihime, his glistening eyes burning with determination and heartfelt worry. "We can't lose you, not now."

Ichigo took Orihime by a hand again and looked at her encouragingly, quietly preparing himself for the next warp.

"I will find Karin and bring her to you," Orihime promised, placing her other hand against the older man's cheek consolingly, willing for his heart to be at ease. "Make sure your other daughter is safe."

Isshin smiled at the sense of reassuring peace that washed over him and nodded thankfully at her again. "Yes, my Queen. Thank you." He then directed his eyes to his son with a proud smile. "The day when I'll explain everything to you will come," he told Ichigo, still smiling appreciatively at him. "Right now, focus on the bond you two share; you're more powerful than you think. And together, you're unstoppable. Never forget this."

Both Ichigo and Orihime nodded in a courtly manner at the older Karti before turning to each other and holding both their hands together, getting ready to teleport again.

The excited barking of Nenya kept them from leaving though and they both watched with amused chuckles how the snow-white wolfdog hurried towards them and placed herself in between them, stating her intentions loud and clear.

"Are you sure?" Isshin asked her, smiling warmly at the determined bark he received in response. "Protect them the best you can, Nenya. I'm counting on you."

Nenya barked again and everyone shared a soft laugh.

"May the Selit Tra'ak watch over you," Isshin prayed, lifting a hand in goodbye.

"And you, good man," Orihime whispered back, turning to lock eyes with Ichigo and letting their shared Magicks flow through her again.

"Is this what you meant when you said that mom would glow with love for you?" Yuzu wondered as they watched the couple and the dog disappear.

"She was most beautiful when she did," Isshin admitted, briefly letting his memories of his wife play before his mind's eye and smiling at her. "Come on, we need to get going too. We have preparations to make."

She nodded and followed her father back up the slope towards the bridge.

* * *

The loft above the barn was abandoned when they appeared back there.

Orihime watched Nenya go down the ladder after Ichigo whispered an order to her. "You're certain it's safe here?"

Ichigo carefully looked out of the window above the bed, but couldn't see their perpetrators anywhere. "For now, yeah… Nenya will warn us if someone comes."

Orihime legged over to the table with the food they hadn't touched and commanded a warp-dome to engulf the food so she could store the aliments in a separate dimension for the time being. "Ner'amal, what else will you need?" she inquired, picking the remainders of her human outfit that were left behind earlier that morning.

"My hunting belt," Ichigo answered, getting off the bed and approaching her. "Wait, do you think we can do it like this, too?"

She moved her head up to him when he came to stand behind her and placed his hands on her naked shoulders. "Oh."

Their minds touched again and as he mentally guided her tracking ability through the places he needed for her to find the things he wished to take with him on their journey, he wondered how it was that he seemed to know exactly how he was supposed to mimic her power and as the question came to him, he felt her answer back.

"_You and I are one now, what you see, I see. What you feel, I feel. Where you go, I can go too; warp there in a blink of an eye. What I can do, you may learn how to do as well."_

"_How…?"_

He felt her smile and all of a sudden his consciousness was back in the barn. Ichigo stumbled back a bit; feeling woozy. "What was that?"

Orihime turned to him with an asserting gaze. "You instinctively knew that you'd be able to guide my Tracking Magicks to the things you would need." She waved a hand and all the domes she had summoned for the food, the clothes and the gear all disappeared.

"I just knew it would work," he disclosed with a shrug. "I didn't see it, I just knew-" He then paused and frowned at her. "You told me I could learn what you can do…?"

"Magicks," she explained, reaching her hands out to him for him to take. He slid his into hers and his discomfort immediately ceased. "You've already started to awaken. I've felt it."

Realization dawned on him when memory offered assistance. "I can feel things that haven't happened yet in a waking state and act upon them... Events at a much shorter distance in time."

"Yes," she agreed, smiling warmly. "That's called Intuitive precognition. You and I share a telepathic and emotional bond, you augment my powers, you have premonitions…" She paused and shook her head excitedly. "There's much, much more that you can do, I'm certain. I sense a great potential in you, Ichigo."

Ichigo's eyes went soft and he took her right hand in his to kiss its palm lovingly. "You'll teach me?"

"Of course," she reassured, framing his face in her hands now, her eyes returning the affection she saw in his. "I will teach you everything I can."

Just as he was about to kiss her, Nenya returned with another basket filled with food from the kitchen between her teeth. Ichigo grinned at her and Orihime lowered herself on one knee and took the item from the canine gratefully, kissing the dog on her head. "Thank you, Nenya."

Nenya barked happily at her whilst she made the basket with food disappear and rose to hold hands with Ichigo again, who moved in to reprise his approach and kissed her scant seconds before another sphere of purple enveloped them and they departed for the center of the village.

* * *

"Nenya?"

Karin frowned at the sight of Ichigo's white wolfdog approaching her stand calmly with an upbeat tempo in her step.

"Hey girl," she greeted her with a frown. "What are you doing here? Didn't you go with dad-?"

"_Karin."_

The Kurosaki twin lifted her head in attention. "_Ichigo?" _She looked around the crowded market place for her brother, but couldn't see him anywhere in her vicinity. "_How are you talking straight into my head?"_

Ichigo looked back over his shoulder at Orihime as they sat on their haunches with joined hands by the corner of a dead end, abandoned back alley situated in a side street that led onto the central marketplace. "_Orihime is helping me. Karin, we came to get you. We need to get going right now. The farmstead was attacked this morning."_

"_What?!" _Karin thought, standing up in alert, her eyes now looking around more frantically for her brother. "_Where are Dad and Yuzu? Are you alright? What happened?"_

"Two grilled rabbits, please."

Karin smiled at the large man and the smaller woman who stopped in front of her stand. "Yes, one silver please," she answered, reaching for the demanded food. "_Ichigo…?" _ she thought worriedly.

"_Finish up with those customers and then meet us in the first street on your left. We're in the alley."_

"_Okay." _She handed over the warm meat to the man and accepted his payment with a polite smile. "Thank you."

"Excuse us, miss." The woman with the long black hair stepped closer to the stand, catching Karin's attention again. "My partner and I were wondering if you knew where we could find the owner of the farmstead by the cobblestone bridge?"

A shiver went down Karin's spine and she squinted her eyes in suspicion, glancing at the dog. Nenya didn't seem to find anything suspicious about the couple. "I wouldn't know," she answered truthfully, shrugging. "Why?"

"_Ichigo! This man and woman here are asking about dad!"_

"_Stay calm, Karin."_

Orihime dared to look around the corner to have a better look at who was talking to Karin. She couldn't see their faces, but from their postures and appearance it was obvious that they weren't their pursuers. "_Those are not the ones who came to your farmstead this morning, Karin."_

"We're looking for a friend who might have passed through here," the giant male answered Karin, taking off the hood that covered his face, revealing his strong facial features with his full lips, his unruly mass of chocolate brown curls and his kind moss green eyes.

The black haired woman pulled down her hood as well to inspire trust and smiled at the young woman. "She's petite in stature, with bright amber eyes and long, golden brown hair."

"_They're looking for you, Orihime… A woman with big dark blue eyes and shoulder length black hair and a big, muscular guy-"_

"_With deep green eyes and soft brown hair…."_

Ichigo turned to look at her and found her staring at the scene in the distance with big tears rolling down her cheeks now. "Orihime…?"

"You fools!" she whimpered, smiling nonetheless. "Why are you here?"

He felt the wave of affection coming from her and smirked back at the scene. "_Karin, those are friends. Could you please bring them to us?"_

Locking up her stand and putting away the money she'd made in a purse on her body, she gestured for the man and the woman to follow her to the abandoned street, with Nenya walking behind them cautiously.

"We finally caught up with you."

All three of them watched how the cloaked figures knelt respectfully onto the cobblestones of the street.

"Ki'ina!"

"Tatsu! Sado!" Orihime whined tearfully, jumping into their awaiting arms. "Selit be praised! You're safe! But how? I was certain that I would never see you again after-"

The large Daemlin placed a loving hand against her face and smiled wryly at her. "Many of your court did perish, Ki'ina," he started, eyes going sad when more tears rolled down Orihime's face. "The Vritri Tra'ak were ordered not to spare anyone who they thought had something to do with your escape."

"I was set up; I never wanted to escape!" Orihime sobbed, bringing her hands to her face as she relived the horror she'd been put through. "They dragged me out of the dungeons and chased me through the woods like an animal for days…"

The black haired woman took her in her consoling arms and closed her eyes in sympathy. "By Oblivium, your Grace! But praise be to the Twins for keeping you alive!" she whispered shakily with held back tears. She took a moment to look at her friend, using her thumbs to wipe away the tears from her pale face before hugging her again. "They were planning on pinning your death on the fact that you supposedly tried to escape…!"

"Seen as how they couldn't bring back proof that you were dead, they used your supporters as a scapegoat by blaming them for your escape," Sado further explained, now looking at the Kurosaki siblings. "We had to wait until the coast was clear to come out of hiding and attempt the crossing."

Tatsuki looked up from where her head had rested against Orihime's and smiled thankfully at the other two. "We feared to be too late, that she would've been captured again, but we're grateful that she found Hemen she could trust in."

Karin looked up at her brother, feeling confused. "What's going on?"

Orihime straightened and wiped away her tears hastily before turning around and facing the siblings again. "These are my Karti, or rather, the most trusted members of what's left of my court."

"Your… court? As in… a royal one?" the young woman asked, eyes gone wide.

Tatsuki stepped up to her and bowed proudly. "I'm our Queen's Lady-in-waiting, Tatsuki."

She lifted her head and gestured to her companion. "He's our Grace's Spiritual Counselor, Chaplain of the Court and Minister of the Faith of the Selith Tra'ak. Sado."

Ichigo lifted his head up the imposing figure of the man when he approached him, now towering above him intimidatingly. "Nice to meet you…"

Sado never said anything as the corners of his lips curled down disapprovingly. He instead turned his attention on Karin. "Her holiness Orihime Var Tra'aklin is the rightful ruler of all Daemonkin. She is the Queen of our race."

"Holy crap, that explains a lot," Karin mused, smiling nervously. She turned her attention to her brother and grinned slyly. "Damn, brother."

Ichigo chuckled apprehensively when Sado switched his accusing gaze on him again. "Uhm…"

"We don't have time for this," Orihime intervened, stepping in between the two men. She turned to Karin. "We need to get you to safety, to where your father and your sister are."

Tatsuki walked up to her urgently. "Your Grace, the Vritri Tra'ak…?"

"They've come for me this morning and have hurt and killed people I came to trust," she replied, voice hard and eyes darkening with cold determination. "I won't let them hurt anyone else."

"Where did you want for us to meet you and your guests, Ki'ina?" Sado asked, pulling his hood over his head again.

Ichigo reached out a hand for her and she took it with a smile that lit up her features. "I'll be taking all of us at once."

"But the Sakumtir-" Tatsuki started before falling silent when they all saw Orihime's skin glow and felt the warm waves of hers and Ichigo's Magicks wash over them. "Oblivium Tra'ak!" she exclaimed, falling onto one knee again in veneration. "Ki'ina set'amal! Selit Amal!"

Karin closed her eyes when a sensation of peace took her over. "Whoa…!"

A big smile grew on Sado's features now and he nodded in understanding. "Vivium's blessing," he stated, sharing a joyful grin with her. "This is meant to be. The absolute joining of Light and Dark."

"You don't see this everyday," Karin commented at the luminescent spectacle taking place before her, a cherishing smile creeping on her features.

"Orihime," Ichigo whispered, averting his eyes a bit from hers, having felt his attention being abruptly taken over by a tremor that went through his entire being. "We need to go, right now."

She felt his trepidation flow through her in turn. "Gather around everyone, please. Quickly."

Everyone did as told, just as they heard panicked cries coming from the market place.

In the split second it took for the warp sphere to engulf all of them, Ichigo saw one of their pursuers fly around the corner of their alley and throw his lance at them, scant seconds before their teleportation was complete.

The dome disappeared into nothing once again.

But so did the lance.

* * *

_**This. Took. Forever. To write... I'm so sorry, but I sincerely hope you liked it!**_

_**Thank you, thank, thank you for all of you who liked, followed and reviewed this piece! I have so much more in store for this story, so please bear with me!**_

_**By the way, my partner BrokenAngelwings83 and I have started a new blog on tumblr dedicated to NSFW IchiHime; TastefullyIchiHime. Come take a look; we have commissioned IchiHime artworks of the NSFW variety, dirty confessions, discussions and a smut writing contest! The link is in my bio, so come have a taste!**_

_**Lessons in Love - chapter 22 - Ashes to Ashes pt5 is up next in my main stories update list!**_

_**Until then,**_

_**Take care everyone!**_

_**-MistressBlaque-**_


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